Warped Realities
by JC303
Summary: A story about me, the authoress! When a strange man gives me a ring, I discover it has the power to bring what I draw to life! But when I'm thrown into the Sonic X TV show, there's trouble...
1. Chapter 1

The greatest gift us humans have is the ability to imagine and recreate. At least, that's my opinion.

But think about it. Most of us, if not all of us have an imagination that is stirred even more by the gain of knowledge about the world, and everyone has different thoughts. Some plan and calculate with this knowledge, imagining the cause and effect of situations theoretically. Others use unique knowledge to better themselves, like cooking or gardening tips, or martial arts stances and moves. Some use the knowledge against other people, whether it's for war strategy or selfish, trivial gains.

Some use knowledge to recreate knowledge of their own. More artistically speaking, some people use knowledge to recreate characters, things, weapons, relics, or even entire worlds of their own; whether it is for entertainment value, or isolation from the world of harsh reality. Either way, there are some of those many people that strive to bring their world as close to a reality as possible.

This is something I'd like to do. I make up worlds in my mind using my imagination because sometimes I want to tune out of reality. I don't have a bad life; in fact, I have a very blessed life. I have a loving family, and good friends, and I'm intelligent enough that I keep school grades from dropping too low, but it's just the way I am. Whether it's my Aspersers or who I am, I can't really say for sure. All I can say is that most of the time, I lock myself up in my world of imagination, daydreaming; daydreaming of my adventures in the realms of Sonic the Hedgehog, as my fan-character who was named after me. In my mind, I am transformed into the anthropomorphic ewe dressed in simple garb, roaming whatever moss-covered forest my mind comes up with.

But it's only daydreaming after all.

That is…until the daydream became real.

I lay there listening to the soft sounds of the tide rolling back and forth across the sands of the beach. Sunset was coming by the golden, orange sky as the cotton candy pink clouds withered away with the gentle breeze that overtook the area.

I had been here for an entire day, and I was so weak I couldn't move. My entire body ached with a pain that was unreal; especially my feet since I lost my shoes long ago, and I had been running nonstop on bare feet. Usually I wouldn't complain, since I liked being bare foot, but I wasn't exactly frolicking in the meadow.

And wearing a gown didn't help. It might have been a lovely Celtic gown, but it didn't make me agile like an Olympic gymnast or anything. Heck, I wasn't even that when I WASN'T wearing a gown.

I wasn't the skinniest girl in the land, and I wasn't the prettiest either. I suppose I consider myself an average looker…

After all, I believed for a long time that physical appearance didn't matter in a person.

How I got lost on that topic, I'll never know.

All I knew was that I was tired, achy, hungry, and even sleepy.

Somehow I ended up in this place, and I spent all day trying to figure out where I was. Would you believe that I had been transported to another world? Yep…and the very thing I have to thank for that is this ring.

Around my finger was a ring with green and diamond jewels indented between the golden weaves.

This ring had the power to bring what I drew to life. I decided to be silly and draw a little swirl on a pad of paper while I wore the ring.

BIG mistake.

That little swirl popped out of the pages and sucked me in like an inter-dimensional portal; or even more like a black hole. After being flushed down that thing, I was sent into a different world somehow garbed in the Celtic gown that I was wearing now. I'll admit, I liked it very much; it fit like a glove and I had imagined it up once before, so it was a dream come true.

But this wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare.

You know how I know this is a different world? Well, I don't know how but I was running through Mobius strips at speeds I never thought I could accomplish; I got pecked to death by angry Flickies, and I was nearly decimated by a pack of robots.

As you can clearly tell, I ended up in the Sonic universe. To be more exact, actually…it is the Sonic X TV show…That black swirl-like portal attached itself to my TV while I was watching it, and THAT was what I got sucked into. Such an obvious observation escaped me somehow...

Hey, it happens.

But I never saw the blue hedgehog or his friends. All I got was an unwelcome greeting.

I wanted to cry.

In fact, I did. I was crying right there while I was lying on the beach in pain. I was lying on my side, and I buried my face into my massive sleeves, with the skirt of my gown sprawled out on the sand. I wanted to go home. I didn't want to be in this world anymore; I thought it would be fun to meet Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends for real, but I never even got a chance to look for them.

"_Why are you crying?"_

It was a high-pitched, mechanical sounding voice coming from behind my head.

I knew that voice.

I managed to turn my head to see the little dark robot with the jet booster strapped to his back, kneeling down by me and looking at me sadly with those beady yellow lens-like eyes. His name was Bokkun as far as I knew, and he was one of Eggman's little robots; his messenger to be exact. In the show, Bokkun would bring televised messages to Sonic and his friends and then the TV would explode; for comical humor.

Personally, I stopped finding that funny when the self-destruct messages on Inspector Gadget got old.

But even for a whiny crybaby, Bokkun was still somewhat an adorable character.

"…I'm lost," I said, wiping my eyes dry. I also hoped that Bokkun would be just as naïve as a child, so I could talk to him more easily without so many questions asked.

"_You are?"_ Bokkun asked. _"Well, where did you come from?"_

Execute instant plan; Cliché amnesia. "…I can't remember," I replied. "All I know is that I don't belong here…and I had such a hard time that I got hurt and I can hardly move…" That last bit was half truth thrown in. I also wasn't a bad actress, so I retained a sad look.

Bokkun easily bought it, and he looked sympathetic. "_You're hurt? Do you need help?"_

"…you want to help me?" I asked.

Bokkun nodded quickly.

"Well, what do we have here?"

I didn't like the other voice, and while it wasn't Eggman, it wasn't anyone I would be able to fool as easily as Bokkun. Walking up beside Bokkun was a white bat, with features overbearing with femininity; make-up, large breasts, and an hourglass shape, fit into a dark jumpsuit and white high-heel boots. This was Rouge the Bat, and her most notorious trait was the affinity for jewels.

With that given, I could see that she was eying the ring on my hand with interest.

"_This pretty lady's hurt!"_ Bokkun said, flailing his arms wildly. _"She's lost and she can't remember anything either!"_

Did…Bokkun just say I was…pretty?

"…sounds like really bad luck to me," Rouge remarked.

"_Rouge…do you think we can help her?"_ Bokkun asked, twiddling his thumbs.

"Don't know, squirt," she said, walking around me. "You know that the Dr. doesn't like wasting time with generosities like helping the needy."

"_Please Rouge!"_ begged Bokkun with his hands clamped together. _"We don't even have to bug Dr. Eggman! We could help her ourselves, couldn't we?"_

"Sorry, but I'm not free either," Rouge said. "I don't come without a price, and it isn't cheap, mind you."

Bokkun looked desperately between me and Rouge to figure out what to do.

I tried to get up. "It's okay," I said. "I can probably—!" but I spoke too soon because the ache was too much for me to be able to get up, so I collapsed back onto the ground. "…ow."

"Don't push it too hard now," Rouge said. "You really aren't in any condition to move around by yourself, by the looks of it."

"…if you help me…" I uttered. I couldn't believe I was going to do this, but after thinking, I knew how I could do it. "…I'll reward you."

"Really now?" Rouge asked, raising an eyebrow in interest. "What could you possibly reward me with, anyway?"

"…I could get a Chaos Emerald for you."

Rouge's eyes widened, but only slightly so no one else noticed. "…could you really?" she finally chuckled in amusement. "I highly doubt that a simple girl like you could get one."

"…I may not remember where I come from," I said; pushing the lie that I had amnesia, "but I still remember that I have magical powers…and these powers are capable of getting a Chaos Emerald."

"Is that so?" Rouge said.

"I would try to prove it, but…I can barely move as you can see," I added.

Rouge just looked at me suspiciously. I realized the controversy of what I was promising. If I came from somewhere else, and I had amnesia, then how would I know what the Chaos Emeralds were? I think Rouge realized that, because she turned her back on me.

"Sorry, not interested," she said. "It was a good try though."

I felt pretty desperate, and luckily, a backup idea came up in my head. "Wait…maybe I can't get you a Chaos Emerald, but maybe something else in exchange?" With my right hand, I dug my finger in the sand and began to draw something out, which actually made Rouge look over.

I drew a simple diamond in a 3-D scale, and then I held the hand with the ring over it. The jewels on the ring began to glow and twinkle, and so did the outlines of the drawing in the sand. The outlines peeled off the sand and began to float in mid air.

Bokkun stared in awe while Rouge watched in bewilderment.

Soon, the outlines gained volume, and became an actual tangible object, which turned into a clear, beautiful diamond jewel.

Rouge marveled at the diamond that placed itself in my hand, while I held it up.

"_Wow!"_ Bokkun exclaimed. _"That really _is_ magic!"_

"…too much like magic," Rouge murmured thoughtfully, even though she was clearly impressed.

The ache in my arm let it fall to the sand, while I let out a deep breath. This dropped the diamond onto the shore, with Rouge picking it up and inspecting it closely; just to make sure it was real.

According to her, it was. A smile crossed her face while she looked at it, humming happily. "Not bad," she said. "Not bad at all."

"I can make more…" I mumbled. It seemed like making that diamond took a little out of me, and now I was more tired that I was before, trying to fight the urge to close my eyes and sleep. "…but if you just help me this once."

"Alright, I'll buy it for now," Rouge said. "We'll sneak you into the base for tonight so you have a bed to sleep in at least."

I was amazed how easily Rouge and Bokkun helped me onto my feet; all this time I thought their small size would cut them back, but in reality I was on my feet without a sense of gravity pulling me back down.

Of course, the two of them were actually _flying_ me through the air by my arms. That amazed me even more.

Shortly, they brought me to a red fortress built with metal walls and the logo of a man's face with a mustache on some of the walls. Surely this was Eggman's mark, indeed confirming that they had brought me to the destination.

Rouge and Bokkun set me down, observing the perimeters. "Bokkun, you're going to have to distract some of the security units," Rouge whispered. "There's no way I'm slipping right past them with the girl."

"_Okay…"_ Bokkun murmured, taking off into the fortress. It wasn't long until a group of robots was chasing Bokkun around, while the little robot laughed maniacally. For some reason he was holding up a spatula and occasionally beating them with it.

I giggled.

"C'mon," Rouge instructed sternly, pulling me along into the dark corridors of the fortress. Luckily, I wasn't too achy to run around, paying close attention to where Rouge was pulling me so I didn't trip.

Once again; running in a dress here!

Rouge got me into the facility and into a lone room. It was some kind of storage room, with a variety of many different things in here; piles of scrap metal, wooden and metal crates with more of Eggman's mark on them, and other undistinguishable things.

Rouge made sure to check outside the door before she closed it. "This place has the lowest security," she whispered. "This is the best you're gonna get."

I was just fine with that. Anything sounded good, and while rummaging through the storage, I even found a lumpy old mattress. I decided not to question how it was in here (or where it's been for that matter) and I lied down on it with some relief.

I was almost asleep by the time Bokkun made it into the storage room, and knelt down by me. _"Are you going to be okay now?"_ he asked.

I opened my eyes as best as I could. "Yes…thank you," I murmured.

Bokkun smiled. _"And don't worry! In the morning, I'll sneak out some food for you!"_

"That…sounds nice," I mumbled. Shortly after, I was asleep again.


	2. Chapter 2

It was still dark in the storage room when I reopened my eyes from my sleep. I guessed that it was morning, but there weren't any windows around to confirm that. Even then, I didn't exactly want to get up really. Miraculously enough I was comfortable on that lumpy mattress; then again, it could be the gown that I was so comfortable in.

While I lay there, with eyes closed and in half-conscious sleep mode, I thought about the events that brought me to this world.

That man.

I saw the strange man walking down the road past me, and he murmurs something about a drawing I did, so I was drawn in. "I'm sorry sir," I said. "Could you repeat that?"

"I said, that's an amazing drawing," he said, regarding his head to a recent, anime self portrait I had done of myself. "It looks a good deal like you. You're very observant." His voice was quite deeply masculine, and he sounded like he could be in his late 20s.

"Thanks," I said, smiling proudly as I looked up at him. I couldn't see his face because his head was right in the view of the sun, and he looked suspicious and mysterious wearing that long buttoned up trench coat. When I shielded my eyes, I saw he was wearing a hat and black shades, so I couldn't really distinguish much facial feature. He did have a black, bushy goatee though…

"But how did you do that without a mirror to look at?" he asked.

"Oh, I just remember what I look like," I said. "I have photographic memory."

"Well you've got quite a gift," the man chuckled. "You plan on using that in life?"

My grin grew. "I want to be an animator!"

The man smiled warmly. "I think you're on your way."

"Thanks, it's cool to hear that," I said in honesty.

"I kinda like you, kid," he chuckled again; and he had said that in a non-creepy way, thankfully. "Is it alright if I gave you something?"

"You want to give me something?" I questioned curiously.

"Sure, here." From his trench coat, he fished out something and offered it to me as his hand opened up.

It was that ring.

"You're giving me this?" I asked in amazement, as he dropped it into my hands. "Really?"

"Of course," he said, smiling again.

I just couldn't believe it.

"Go ahead, try it on," He urged, regarding his head to it again.

I did so, and it slipped over my finger smoothly, fitting perfectly. "Wow!" I uttered as my eyes were dazzled by its glittering beauty. "Thank you very much, I think its-" I stopped short when I looked up, only to discover that he was gone. I shot up on my feet in shock, looking around. I didn't hear any footsteps walking away, and no one certainly would've been able to walk away that quickly or quietly.

The only explanation my wild, imaginative mind offered was that he had vanished without a trace in mid air like magic.

Not an ounce of my mind thought twice about this, because at least he wasn't a stranger that was leading me away into a dark corridor at least. Nooooo, my mind immediately attached itself back to my drawings once I put the ring on, and I was happily lost in day-dream land.

When you have a fixation for drawing, sometimes it can be bothersome. Most of the time, I can't think about anything else BUT drawing, and that makes me a little more oblivious to things around me. No one understands what it's like with Asperger Syndrome.

He must have known that ring was magic. He must have known what it would do to me…

If I ever see that man in this world, then he's got some answering to do.

Once sucked into the black hole that I somehow created, I ended up in the middle of this world, somehow wearing a Celtic gown that I had drawn beforehand. A jeweled headband was on my brow, and around my neck was a type of jeweled necklace worn tight like a collar. Basically I looked like royalty, and I loved it. For about the first 5 minutes, I felt like a Disney Princess.

After that, reality set in…_quick!_

As I said, I ran through mobius loops in the air, got pecked by angry Flickies, and nearly got smoked by some of Eggman's robots that were apparently patrolling a certain area.

No, I do NOT want to go into details about yesterday.

Simply put, I had it rough. Things eased up after I met with Bokkun and Rouge yesterday thankfully…

…but I'd hate to see what would happened if Eggman ever found out about the stowaway in the storage room.

I opened my eyes at that uneasy thought and sat up, no longer in the mood to continue sleeping. It was a little too quiet in the storage room, and nothing was happening, so I got up and explored a little in the storage room.

Even more fun was that I was in debt to Rouge, so now I'd have to whip up some more jewel drawings; which wasn't bad, but I wasn't sure if what drawings that came to life retained its substance throughout the end of time. Come to think of it, I didn't really know exactly how the ring worked. All I learned so far was that whatever I drew came to life, which only happened purely by accident. I'm not sure if something drawn in the sand would last…and that might make Rouge feel like she was duped.

Oh, hey, I didn't know there was a broom in here...

Wanting to feel useful, I started to sweep with the broom to collect some of the dust in here. I'm weird like that…sometimes I'll just pick up a chore and do it; comes with being a small-town country girl raised by a stern step-father.

I started to miss home again. I was partially scared because I wasn't sure if I was going to find a way home. I'm not sure if making a swirl portal might even get me back…

…but at that thought, I searched through the storage room to see if I could at least find a pencil and some paper. Throughout my sweeping and searching, I didn't find a single thing.

Bummer…

Well, after my cleaning frenzy I sat back down on that mattress again. Now I was getting hungry, and while my stomach rumbled in agony, I moaned.

I was jarred from my thoughts when I heard the door creak open suddenly, and my first reaction was to hold my breath and hide from sight as quickly and quiet as possible. Behind some crates, I saw a beam of artificial light from the hallway mark the wall, and a shadowy figure appeared.

"…_pssssst! Hey, it's Bokkun!"_

I let my breath go in relief. "Over here," I whispered, signaling to him.

Bokkun shut the door and came over to me as I knelt down to his height. He held up a bagel. _"Sorry, this was all I could get…"_ he said as I took it.

"That's okay," I said. "I'm still glad you tried to get some food for me." And I took a good bite out of it. It was bland, as bagels were, and I wished that it was toasted with some cream cheese smothered on it, but it was better than no food. Beggars can't be choosers.

Aw great, I just called myself a hobo.

Well, I mind as well be, because my gown was now grimy and dirty from the sweeping I had done, and I can't imagine the state my bare feet could be in after walking practically everywhere. I guess I wasn't royalty after all.

After I finished the bagel, I looked at Bokkun. "Thank you for being kind to me," I said. "But I don't think I'll be able to stay here…"

"_How come?"_ Bokkun asked curiously.

"Because I don't want your boss, Dr. Eggman, to be angry if he finds out." I found myself shuddering when I said his name, and I don't know why. "…but you won't have to try and sneak me out like last night. I have another idea. Would you go get something else for me if I asked you?"

"_Anything,"_ Bokkun said, with welcome, outstretched arms.

I can't believe this robot was being so nice to me…it just warmed my heart so much. "I need you to get me some paper and a pencil, so I can draw. I'll just draw my way out of here…"

"_Oh, okay!"_ Bokkun said. _"Be right back!"_ And the little robot took off out the door, shutting it behind him and leaving me in the dark of the storage room again.

Who knew Bokkun was so much like an innocent little kid? And I thought he was the bad guy…

The door opened again later on, and when I glanced, my jaw dropped. It wasn't Bokkun, but two other robots that I clearly recognized, as the two of the rushed into the storage room. One was a yellowish-color, tall and skinny with a capsule-like head. The other was short and stout, and silver-colored. The taller yellow one was Decoe, and the shorter one was Bocoe. They were Eggman's top henchmen (if that was even a complimentary role).

They found me immediately and grabbed me by the arms.

"_So, there WAS someone hiding in the storage!"_ Decoe said.

My heart nearly stopped. How did they know that someone was in here?

They forced me out of the storage room and I struggled so much that they had to throw me onto the ground. Once I took my face-plant, I tried to get up. My face met with a pair of feet in black boots, and regretfully rose to look at the one who was wearing them.

With that red lab coat, that beak-like red nose, those glasses and that large mustache, there was no mistaking it. This was Dr. Eggman.

"…oh no…" I muttered under my breath, sitting on my tush.

"Well now, how did a little maiden like you end up in here?" Eggman said, twisting his mustache.

I didn't answer. I just stared at him as my shoulders trembled. Eggman saw this and let out a small laugh, "Now there, no need to be scared. I'm not going to get mad."

"…you're…not?" I sputtered.

"No," Eggman said, grinning. "After all, no one could've snuck you in that easily; not even Rouge despite her talent in espionage." He walked up to me and took me by the chin, which made me feel VERY uncomfortable. "No, I knew all along. In fact, little Bokkun told me of the little mouse in the storage room, and I congratulated him on such a cunning effort to lead you straight into my clutches!"

Bokkun…that two-timing, sniveling little maniac! I can't believe I trusted him!

I yanked away from Eggman and looked away, not wanting to make any eye contact with the mad scientist. "What do you mean lead me into your clutches?" I asked. "What do you want with me?"

"I hear of a special talent you have," Eggman continued, walking around me. "Apparently, you performed the feat that you could bring something existent by simply drawing it. That's certainly a unique talent."

"If you want me to draw something for you, I won't," I said.

"Don't be so hasty, dearie," Eggman said; that "dearie" making me shudder again. "I don't care to try and force you into doing something I know you won't do; that would just be a waste of time. So instead, I'm going to ask you of something else." He knelt down and popped his head beside mine, making me wish I wasn't here right now. "Give me the ring!"

I jolted away from him just to get away from him. "No!" I instantly answered. No way was I giving him the ring; this was my ticket home, and even then, something with this kind of power should not fall into the hands of Eggman. That was common sense.

Eggman sighed, as he rose to a stand. "There's always someone that wants to be a hero," he murmured. "Listen, I may not look it, but I will even twist the arm of a child in order to get what I want, and I won't hesitate. I'm kindly giving you a chance to give me the ring."

"Why? I really have nothing to lose. I can't remember anything," I said, hoping to play an ace in this game.

"That's what you say, dear, but I can tell when someone is lying," Eggman said. "Clearly you're just withholding information from me, for whatever personal reason you have. I will tell you now that I'm not easily fooled by amateur acting."

"…darn it," I murmured under my breath.

"But again, I could care less about who you are or where you came from," he continued, "as long as you give me that ring, I'll let you off scot-free. So give it to me. _Or else…_"

"No," I said firmly.

"Bocoe, Decoe."

Their names cued a sudden action that I couldn't avoid, as the robots grabbed me, yanked me up, and literally twisted my arms behind my back. I bit my lip and held in a whimper because it was awfully painful, but I didn't give in.

"Tough girl," Eggman murmured, brushing his mustache. "Pull the ring from her finger."

"_Yes Dr,"_ responded one of them, while they gripped the hand and aimed to pull the ring off. A moment later, they discovered that they couldn't pull it off, and to more painful yanking, it remained stubbornly.

"_It's stuck!"_ the other said.

"_C'mon, yank harder!"_

"_You try pulling off a ring without breaking her finger!"_

"_You know, sometimes you can be such a crybaby!"_

"_I can't be as much a crybaby as Bokkun at least!"_

That was when I took in a deep breath because I couldn't hold it anymore, and let out a painful scream; interrupting Bocoe and Decoe's argument.

Somehow it must have been a lot louder than I thought. Bocoe and Decoe released me, clutching their hearing sensors in agony. Electricity even sparked out of their jittering heads while it looked like that they were slightly malfunctioning. I could also hear Eggman yelp as he plugged up his own ears. His mustache even frazzled out in the process, and by the time I finished screaming, Eggman, Bocoe and Decoe were doubled over on the ground in a pain-induced coma.

I was stunned. My screams can be pretty loud, but THIS was an exaggeration.

But I wasn't stupid enough to stand there gawking at them. I picked up my skirt and started off down the hallway quickly on my bare feet. Usually I had better speed without shoes, and I hoped that it would be quick enough to get me out of here.

I sure wish Sonic was here to save me.


	3. Chapter 3

"If I ever get my hands on a pencil and paper, I'M CHANGING MY OUTFIT!"

I don't know how long I ran through the fortress, but the dress made me lag behind SO much! The skirt was dragging a lot on the ground and even when I lifted up the skirt in front of my feet, I found SOME way of tripping. Me and my 'magnificent' grace...I was so hopelessly lost in this place that I even started to wonder how Eggman built such a place by himself!

Okay, he had the help of his robots, but still! He had to build all those robots by hand at some point!

Thinking of an episode where Eggman rebuilt household appliances, I realized how scary it was that Eggman could build so much by himself.

"_HAHAHA!"_ That annoying voice of a certain horn-headed little robot came from a hall, and Bokkun popped out shortly after through the air with his jetpack, blocking my path.

"YOU!" I screamed.

"_I'm not letting you past!"_ Bokkun taunted, laughing.

I moved back and forth to try and pass him, but Bokkun followed my movements, continuing to block my path. This stated to frustrate me, and Bokkun laughed again like a stupid little kid!

This was ridiculous! I was being deterred by a simple little robot!

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth in fury. "Get out of my way, Bokkun!" I yelled at him.

"_You're not getting pa-ast~! You're not getting pa-ast~!"_ Bokkun continued to taunt in a sing-song voice.

That didn't help my anger one bit.

I felt like screaming again. This made me think about what happened when I screamed before, and how I nearly knocked out Eggman, Bocoe and Decoe, and how much pain they were in. I wanted to make this kid cry in pain right now, and while I never felt such hatred directed toward someone, I didn't care.

Maybe if I screamed, I could make him pay for what he did to me.

I didn't know it, but the ring started to come alive and illuminate with a glow.

Bokkun must have noticed this, because he stopped. _"Huh?"_

Then I opened my mouth and let out an angry scream.

Before I hadn't noticed what my scream did, but as Bokkun covered his ears and cried out in pain, I saw what was going on.

The very fabric of everything itself seemed to shift and twist like a tainted illusion, and I could feel the vibrations coursing through the air. The pulsations crawled up through my skin all over me, but most of all through my mouth, where the screaming was coming from.

Whenever I sang, I always noticed that my throat would pulsate with the combination of the air flow and the glands that formed my voice (I don't remember what those glands are called at the moment), and I could feel it in my head as well. After singing for too long, I'd get light-headed, but after resting for a minute, that light-headed feeling would be gone.

I felt the same thing in my throat and in my head, but it was amplified 5 times stronger. It got to a point where my head started throbbing because it was too much.

I didn't stop until Bokkun's head sparked, looking like it was ready to explode. He plopped onto the ground with his hearing sensors plugged, crying hysterically like the crybaby he was. _"It huuuuurts!"_ he whined.

While I held my own head with the dizzy, painful migraine I developed, I watched Bokkun writhe on the ground. "That's for playing me," I growled, stepping over him and continuing on.

It wasn't long until the alarms started blaring through the halls, and I whimpered as the alarm's annoying sound pounded my headache even worse. Even then, I pushed myself to keep going. I burst through a door outside, where the crack of bright daylight made me flinch.

As soon as my eyes adjusted, I saw some of Eggman's security robots rushing toward me.

I had no choice but to scream again, and while the air trembled, each of the robots were overloaded by their sensors and malfunctioned, dropping to the ground and sparking.

My headache hurt so much…I couldn't think straight. I shut my eyes while I tried not to think about how much I was suffering.

Before I could react, I felt my hand taken and pulled along. "C'mon."

I looked down seeing Rouge, and she didn't waste any time dragging me the same ways she had done last night before. I was amazed as she led me toward the exit and outside of the fortress.

"…what are you doing?" I asked, stunned.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" Rouge retorted. "We had a deal; I help you as long as you make me more jewels."

Once we stopped and we were out of sight, I closed my eyes again to think about something other than my aching head while I caught my breath. "…you're really helping me?" I asked.

"Like I said, hon, we have a deal," Rouge replied, looking up at me with a cheeky smirk. "But listen here; I can't exactly switch sides against Eggman. I still need my cover, so I want you to do me a favor."

I looked strangely at her. "What?"

"I want you to give me one of those screams," Rouge said. "Make it look like I tried to stop you and you took me down as well."

My eyes widened. "…what about your sensitive hearing?"

Rouge raised her brow. "How did you know about that, exactly?"

I flinched. "Oh…well, you were a bat, and I figured…with those big ears…" it was a good enough excuse.

"Good point," Rouge murmured. "Listen, don't worry about me. I could go through plenty of things if it means getting a dazzling treasure in the end. That's partly why I've got to stick with Eggman, you see."

"The Chaos Emeralds, right?" I guessed.

"That's a smart girl," Rouge said. "So you understand my situation here."

"…I suppose," I said. It still relieved me that Rouge was helping me out, and I didn't care that she wasn't doing it to be generous. In fact, it was cool to know that I could count on Rouge if it guaranteed a reward, which I could easily provide.

"Alright, brace yourself," I told her, taking a deep intake of breath. I hoped that I could spare another scream because the headache I had was absolutely horrible! If it had gotten any worse, I would wish I were dead!

Rouge plugged her ears when I screamed, but she looked like she was in more pain than I was with my headache. Her ears even started bleeding. When she collapsed, I stopped, and I let out a small moan as I held my head.

"Don't…just stand…there," Rouge uttered weakly. "…go…"

I went. With a glance back at Rouge, I disappeared into the entrance of the woods. From there, I blindly continued to run. There was no way I could think about where I was going, because of my head-splitting migraine. The longer I ran, the harder I breathed and the more my heart began pounding through my chest.

Then I stopped when my legs ached, sitting by the roots of a tree trunk. I buried my head in my hands, hoping that the headache would go away. It hurt so much that I winced every time the blood pumped in my head, and having been running, it was doing so constantly.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," I whined.

Soon the blood pressure lowered and my headache soothed a bit, but it still hurt. I also was stricken with an incredible dizziness that made me wobble a bit, so I fell over. Lying down evidently stopped me from feeling dizzy, but that didn't cure the headache.

I closed my eyes and covered my head with my arms. "Ow…" I groaned, since it still hurt.

I stayed that way for probably 15 minutes, and the headache had eased a little then, but what I didn't realize was that I had gotten sleepy again somehow. I gave in, falling asleep right there underneath that tree.

Maybe I didn't sleep on that lumpy mattress as well as I thought it did. This felt like a more productive sleep than I had gotten over the night.

I was woken up by a draft though, and I shivered while I crunched into a ball to retain warmth as best as I could. The gown was still somewhat cozy, so it wasn't hard to get comfortable again in order to go back to sleep.

Then another gust suddenly rushed by.

I moaned in irritation, tossing and turning to try and get comfortable again.

"Uh…hello?"

My eyes popped open hearing that voice. I knew exactly who it was, but it felt too good to be true, and I was too stunned to turn over and look at who it was.

"Hey, are you awake?"

I finally forced myself to turn my head, but I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping.

It was him; that cobalt blue hedgehog with the yellowish-green eyes, the peachy arms and tummy, and the red running shoes.

Sonic the Hedgehog.

I sat up with a start, pressed against the tree while I covered my mouth in shock.

Sonic took my reaction with a bit of surprise. "Whoa there, don't be scared," he said, intending to comfort me. "Haven't you ever seen a talking hedgehog before?"

I didn't even know how to answer that question. Of course I have, just…not in front of my two eyes in the flesh. I decided to shake my head 'no,' using that excuse to explain my reaction to seeing him.

"You haven't?" Sonic chuckled sympathetically. "Well, don't worry. We hedgehogs aren't bad at all, so there's no need to be afraid of us."

I fidgeted with my hands nervously to try and calm down, but with Sonic approaching me, it was a little hard. "What happened to you?" he asked. "You look like you've been through a lot."

"Robots," I croaked.

"Robots?" Sonic only knew one person that could have anything to do with robots. "Were robots chasing you or something?"

"Yes." I was a big fan of small talk right now.

"Do you know why?"

I looked down at the ring on my hand and didn't answer, but Sonic was able to figure it out. "Was he after you because of that ring?" he guessed.

I nodded, because I literally couldn't speak with the lump in my throat.

Sonic even noticed my eyes watering, because I saw his eyebrows arch with concern. "What's wrong?" he asked, when my lips trembled and I hid my face in my hands.

I let out a sob. "I'm sorry; it's just that I had such a rough time since yesterday."

While I wept, I felt Sonic's hand rubbing my back soothingly, and then ending with a couple pats. "Hey, don't cry," he said gently. "Everything's going to be okay, now. I'll make sure that you're safe."

I sniveled a bit while wiping my eyes, smiling at him. "Thank you so much."

"Well, you don't need to be so heavy on the thanks," Sonic said. "But we shouldn't let someone like you be lost in the wilderness like this. C'mon." He took my hand and pulled me up, helping me onto my feet. For a minute, I had dizziness hit me again, but I remained my footing long enough for the dizziness to fade.

"You alright there?" he asked me.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy at first," I replied.

"Did you have anything to eat?"

"…just a bagel…but I didn't get to eat anything yesterday." My stomach let out an uncontrollable moan that made me smile sheepishly.

Sonic laughed at my reaction to my stomach. "Maybe when we get to my house you can eat something. How about that?"

Sonic had a house? I always assumed that here, the whole world was his home and that he slept wherever he wanted to and ate wherever…while that was still probably true, I would suppose that even Sonic needed a certain place to rejuvenate and feel homely.

"That sounds great," I said gratefully. Now I suddenly remembered something that I should have remembered a long time ago. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're helping me out and I don't even bother telling you my name," I laughed. "My name's…" I stopped for a minute.

Was it a good idea to give them my name? Right now I couldn't think of any consequences, but a part of me felt like I should be careful; even when talking to Sonic and his friends.

Sonic looked at me weird. "…what's the matter?"

"…I'm not sure if it's safe to tell you my name," I confessed.

"…really?" Sonic found that even stranger. "Why don't you feel safe?"

"…I don't know. It's just a feeling…"

"You can trust me, don't worry," Sonic assured, not in a way to pressure me but to further comfort me. "If it'll make you feel better, we can wait until we get to my house to tell me your name."

I thought about it, and somehow, that sounded better to me. I didn't know why I felt uncomfortable giving my name, but it was just a weird feeling in my gut. It almost felt like I shouldn't be out in the open when I say things like that…

…it felt like I was being watched.

"I would appreciate it," I told him with a nod.

Sonic smiled and returned the nod. "Okay then. In the meantime, I'll tell you my name."

I already knew his name, but there was no way I was going to stop him with his trademark introduction. The fan girl in me forbade me to do so.

He gave me a thumb up with a confident grin. "My name's Sonic; Sonic the Hedgehog."

That made me smile. "It's very nice to meet you Sonic."


	4. Chapter 4

I was so thankful that Sonic found me. The walk may have been long, but I could handle it. It gave me a little opportunity to talk to him a bit, and slowly get used to the idea that I was talking to THE Sonic the Hedgehog. I was secretly a little surprised that Sonic was patient enough to walk and talk with me too. I assumed that because he liked to run around so much, he would be used to things running along quickly and would be irritated if they went too slow. Course, that still may be true, but Sonic didn't look all that annoyed talking to me.

I simply was asking him a few questions that I've always been curious about, such as his world and what it was like to live here. He told me that there are a lot of really great places around here in his world to go, and the fastest he traveled around it entirely nonstop was about 2 days. With Sonic's speed, it sounded like a pretty big world.

Judging by how stunned I was to meet him and all the questions about his world, Sonic could obviously tell I wasn't from around here, but that goes without saying. I also think he was trying to respect my insecurity in the open by not asking any questions about me. I really appreciated that.

"There's my house," Sonic finally said, stopping with a smile.

It looked like a pretty ordinary, quaint home. The dark blue shingles on the roof weren't really lined up correctly, almost as if Sonic might have constructed it himself. I guess not everyone is an architect. Along with that, there was a sign next to it saying, "Sonic's House," which was painted on with blue paint. That was pretty cute.

"Come on inside," Sonic opened the door just for me and motioned for me to enter inside, which I did. I had to duck underneath the doorway because I was a bit tall, but the inside of the house looked much different than the outside. It looked like some sort of summer beach home, lacking in windows but the living room looked pretty slick.

"I'm gonna go make something," Sonic said, zipping into his kitchen. "Take a seat!"

I tried to sit on his couch despite the size differences, and while I was afraid it would break underneath me, it didn't. Once again, I wasn't the skinniest girl around. Looking around, I could really tell that Sonic wasn't here much because dust was collecting on every surface imaginable. The slightest shift in movement on the couch caused the dust from in the fabric to puff out, and I coughed.

Wow, Sonic desperately needed to clean up his place, but it wasn't really news that Sonic wasn't a tidy person either.

I heard a ding, and the blue blur popped into the living room in front of me, holding a hot plate of, you guessed it…

Chili dogs.

I smiled. According to my tastes, chili dogs were in good favor, and it wasn't because I was a fan of Sonic the Hegdehog. I'm an American, and what American doesn't like junk food? I took the plate upon my lap, "Thank you," I said.

"Sure thing," Sonic said, and he shot into the kitchen again; probably to make himself some too.

This plate had only two chili dogs, but that was good enough. I delicately took one to make sure none of the chili fell off, and took a big bite. My eyes widened and I let out a pleased hum.

It…was…AWESOME! This was AWESOME for a chili dog! Mostly it was the chili, and I could taste the many different spices used in it, which led me to believe that this was a homemade chili and not a can of the processed kind. Homemade was always the best…

It reminded me of the Portuguese chili my mother made in the crock-pot. It was a family recipe so it had a certain historical value to it, that somehow made it more worthwhile to cook and eat; and I couldn't agree more.

I only wondered if Sonic possibly made this chili, but he couldn't have whipped up this chili that fast…

I had already eaten my first one completely when Sonic popped in with his own plate; but this one had about five chili dogs, unlike my plate. "What d'ya think of them?" he asked.

"They're great!" I said, getting ready to take my first bite out of the second one. "Who made the chili?"

"Amy did," Sonic said. "She's a friend of mine that cooks as a hobby. I just had some of its leftovers in my fridge and I heated them up."

That's right, Amy can cook. Since she was so crazy about Sonic, it's obvious that she does what she can to win him over; like making home-cooked chili for his hot dogs. I laughed after I swallowed my bite. "That's some durn good chili thar, y'know. She must love ya or something if she's feeding you like a king."

Sonic let out a dry, nervous chuckle. "Tell me about it…"

I would've liked to tease Sonic about Amy's obsession over him, but I decided not to push it. I was still hungry for my second one, so I wolfed it down almost as fast as Sonic had chomped through two of his five and was ready to take on his third one. I didn't know what he could do faster; run, or eat chili dogs. If I blinked, the chili dog was gone and he was on the next one, and I watched him eat all five of those without a single hesitation.

"Wow…you really like chili dogs," I murmured.

Sonic cracked a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I let my manners get ahead of me."

"That's okay," I said. "I've seen worse…believe me." Now that I think about it, Sonic actually had much better manners than those of my high school peers. Could you believe that this high school girl belched in the middle of class and didn't even bother to say "excuse me?"

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" Sonic took my plate and stacked it onto his, setting it on the coffee table near the couch.

"Oh…" Now that we were in Sonic's house, I guess I was safe enough to assume that I could talk more openly to Sonic without feeling like I was being watched. "…well, my name's Jillian. Just call me Jill."

"Okay, Jill," Sonic agreed.

I felt a fan-girl tingle warm me all over when he said my name, but I restrained myself from uttering a squeal of glee; I was perfectly silent with nothing but a smile on my face. "You probably can tell that I'm not from around here," I began. "I came from a different world, and it's all because of this ring." I pointed to the very thing on my hand.

Sonic took a look at it. "If it brought you to this world, then how did Eggman find out about it and chase you for it?"

"…you know, that's a good question," I remarked. "I haven't the slightest idea. All I know is that a couple of those working for him snuck me into his base to supposedly take care of me. One of them was named Bokkun."

"Ah," Sonic nodded in agreement. "You can't really trust him. He'll double-cross you in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, I found that out the hard way," I grumbled, rubbing my temples at the memory of all that screaming I did just to get out of there. "There was someone else too; Rouge the Bat."

"Rouge? What could she want?"

"Well…part of it has to do with my ring, you see. Anything I draw comes to life at its power."

Sonic blinked, staring at me in puzzlement, as well as some disbelief about the ring. "…but what does that have to do with Rouge?"

"Just between you and me, she managed to help me escape when Eggman tried to take my ring, but only because I can draw jewels and reward her…"

Sonic made a nod, "Ah, makes sense. Sounds like Rouge."

"But here's the thing…a strange man gave me this ring, and it wasn't like an engagement thing or anything. This random guy, that I DID NOT KNOW, walked down a street past me and gave me this thing…" why I emphasized that I didn't know the guy was obviously because I didn't want Sonic to get the wrong idea. "…so when I got home, I started drawing and all of a sudden, this vortex appeared and sucked me in. I happened to draw something that looked like it when it appeared, so it led me to believe that it had come to life…"

Sonic rubbed his chin while taking in the information. "…be right back." Without another word, he took a light speed dash out of the room, and shortly returned with something in his hands: a pencil and a notepad. Then he shoved them in my hands. "Prove it."

"…uh, okay," I said. "…have any requests on what you'd like me to draw?"

"Don't know," Sonic said. "Just draw whatever comes to mind."

Draw whatever comes to mind…to be perfectly honest, only one thing came to my mind that instant, and I wondered what would happen were I to try and bring it to life.

I started with a circle for an outline. Next, I drew the muzzle, and then the eyes. Then came the bangs…the curly horns and ears…the fur on the muzzle…the body outline…the jacket and belt…

Sonic came over and looked, amazed at the speed I drew at and the accuracy of the proportions to what seemed like one of them. Yet, he didn't recognize at all the character I drew…

And that was because it was my fan character, Jill. Since she was an embodiment of me in the Sonic realm in my mind, I wondered what would happen if I drew her up. I almost had a feeling that maybe it would transform me into her if I attempted to bring her to life.

Once the boots were finished, I took care to erase the extra, unnecessary lines, and beheld the drawing of Jill the Ewe before me.

"Not bad," Sonic said, smiling. "But…who is it?"

"…you'll find out," I said, holding my hand above the drawing. Part of me was scared and the other part was excited. I felt like I didn't really want to transform into her…even if she was made with the most of my characteristics, I felt more like Jill was a separate individual of her own. Unlike me with my Aspergers, she can handle pressured situations.

I just froze up.

As the ring illuminated, the lines of the drawing began to peel off, and Sonic's eyes widened in more amazement. Even I was watching in awe myself. This was the first time I brought something living and breathing to life, and I hoped that I wouldn't screw up in any possible way.

I watched as her body thickened with solidity, and colors came to life. She rotated in the air as the magic from the ring swirled around her and recreated her just the way I envisioned. Her brown wool shaped like long hair with a big wave fluttered lightly as she was placed on the ground. Then the magic dissipated, leaving Jill the Ewe on the ground.

Sonic was speechless, but his first instinctive was to check on her and make sure she was alive and okay, so he knelt by her and shook her lightly. "Hey…hello?"

I gawked at her. "…oh my god…I did it…" I brought my character to life. My heart skipped a beat when I saw her stirring, and sitting up, and I covered my mouth to keep from uttering any sound.

She opened her eyes after a rub, and her first sight was Sonic.

According to my story, she knew him. Had anyone had read my story, Future Generations, she knew him because Sonic's spirit contacted her, since it had been long after his time. I won't go any farther for fear of more spoilers.

Recognizing him, despite the differences between the Sonic X Sonic and the video game Sonic, (since my story was supposed to take place after the video games) she stared at him in shock.

Sonic was bewildered. "…what? Is there something on my face?"

Jill was too stunned to reply. I think she was figuring out that Sonic gave her no recognition back, which possibly meant it may not be the Sonic she thought. Then her eyes shifted and found me.

She stared at me a long time, enough to make me shake. Jill slowly got up on her feet, and inched toward me. I got a little more scared and tried to scoot away.

"It's okay…I'm not going to hurt you." Jill assured me, and her voice was soft enough that it calmed me down considerably. She placed her hands beside my cheeks and stared deeply in my eyes. Somewhat creepy, but knowing Jill, I knew she wouldn't do anything.

"…do I know you?" she asked. "Because somehow…I feel like I do."

"…in a way, you do…" I replied.

Sonic just looked at us, totally unaware of what was going on.

Jill continued to stare, but at least she pulled her hands away from my face. A rush of emotions came over me, as it left me frozen and speechless. I felt like I was staring right back at me, seeing something in my reflection that I never saw in myself before. I think in a way, Jill felt that too. In a way…I think she suddenly realized that we were closely connected with each other. A slight flash in her eyes told me something like that.

Normally, my Aspergers hindered my ability to read facial expressions and understand through physical gestures what's going on in someone's mind. However, an intuitive feeling inside me just figured that she knew who I was…like I really was connected to her.

Almost like I had a good feeling what she was thinking.

"…You're…" Jill tried to find the words to put it as. "…my Master."

"What?" That was unexpected, and when I looked at Sonic, his guard was pretty thrown off too. It got even creepier when Jill knelt down before me, bowing her head.

"…My Master," she repeated, looking back up at me. "You created me…and I am your humble, loyal servant."

"…please don't call me Master," I managed to utter. "It feels too weird…"

"What should I call you?"

Yeah, what could she call me? I stared at the Mobian ewe who awaited my answer patiently, while in the meantime, I was sweating nervously at what was going on. "I…I-I don't know," I sputtered. "Just…don't call me Master."

"What's going on?" Sonic asked. "Who is she?"

I couldn't stop Jill from standing, and turning around to Sonic. "My name is—!"

"—NO!" I screamed, interrupting her and certainly startling her too. At least I managed to stop her from speaking her name. Had she given it, and asked why Sonic didn't know her, that would've left me with more explaining than I wanted to do. First I took a deep breath, exhaled, then spoke, "Sonic, there are some things that you don't know about her, but I have no idea how to explain any of it…"

"Obviously," Sonic muttered.

"…but her name is Jill," I continued, looking at him. "Same as me."

Jill and Sonic looked at me. Jill's look was blank, while Sonic looked with a solemn wonder at me.

"Is that enough proof that what I can draw comes to life?" I asked the blue hedgehog.

"It's convincing enough, but it just leaves me much more curious about a lot of other things…" Sonic said, folding his arms.

Jill came over and put a hand on my arm; an act that triggered shivering goosebumps. I pulled away and made her jump, which made me feel a little guilty. "…sorry, it's just…it's not helping," I tried to say.

"…sorry," she said.

"Ah, don't be sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean it in a bad way…"

Sonic looked back and forth between the two of us. Both our tendency to quickly apologize seemed to be noted by him, but I guess he set it aside because he didn't say anything. "So, Jill?"

"Yes?" Both of us looked at him.

Sonic wasn't expecting both responses, and to that he shook his head. "Look, there's got to be a better way to talk to the two of you."

"…one of us could have a nickname," Jill suggested. "I have a nickname that someone else always gives me, and I could—"

"—No," I interrupted again, getting a strange look from Jill. "…I don't want you to have to drop to the level of that nickname," I told her. "It might be weird but…you deserve the name I've given you. I'd hate for you to be demoted at my expense."

"…oooookay," Sonic uttered, directing his irritated expression at me. "Well, are YOU thinking of using a nickname?"

"Actually, yes," I said, with something already in mind. "Call me JC."

"Your initials?" I nodded to Jill's question.

"And I want you to call me JC too, okay Jill?" We all know how awkward it is to talk to someone with the same name as you, yet, I didn't feel that awkwardness. I felt good, because personally I felt like I did something nice. Seeing Jill smile, I almost felt like she understood it, and even appreciated it.

"Well, it's not a bad nickname," Sonic admitted. "Saves us the trouble of mix-ups anyway."

"I still might need to get used to it though," I said, slouching back on his couch. "I'm not usually called by a nicknaAAAAAAGH!" The couch was too small for me to do that, and tilted under me, sending me toppling over with my back on the ground.

"JC!" Jill was at my side in an instant, pulling me back up while Sonic was laughing.

"…yeah, I'm a bit of a klutz sometimes," I said in embarrassment at Sonic's laughter.

Sonic finished with subtle chuckles. "I noticed."


	5. Chapter 5

First thing on my "To Do" list: CHANGE CLOTHES! So now I was in just a simple tank-top and a pair of sweats, along with some decent sneakers, (I still had a hard time drawing them...) instead of that fancy gown. I was certainly relieved, especially when that corset was squeezing all the air out of my lungs. Also, I put my hair up too; my hair was long and my neck tended to get sweaty with how thick and frizzy and curly it was, (though I'm sure you didn't really care much for that detail.) So a simple hair stick did the trick.

But I thought about something else too. Now that I gained possession of a pencil and notepad, I had the ability to draw that "swirl," or portal, which could hopefully take me back to my world, my home. All I had to do was one simple little scribble...

...but what's the rush?

Like I said before, I always wanted to meet Sonic and his friends in the flesh, and now I have that opportunity. Not only that, but that ring just brought my fan character to life; breathing and everything! Sure, it's a wrong way of playing God, but that made me realize just how powerful this ring was.

I wanted to see what else it was capable of, before I deemed it "dangerous," or something else.

Though I'm pretty sure that wasn't my priority here...

It didn't seem to occur to either Sonic or Jill that I could return home anytime, so I guess I kept quiet about it. Sonic likely took off to return to matters of his own business, so Jill and I were left alone to traverse out into his world again. I had no idea where I was going, so I let Jill do the leading, even though she hasn't been in this world either. I kind of explained as much as I could to her that this was not the world of Future Generations. Actually, I didn't have to really explain it; in the end, she told me that she kind of knew that.

While we were walking, I got to thinking again. If Jill can come to life, then my other characters can too. Other characters of mine could walk around plain as day just like her. If I brought Brick to life, Jill certainly wouldn't be lonely, and part of me felt like I should be obligated to do that. I could also bring Boomer out here; just because I like what kind of character she is.

But what scared me was the possibility that the evil characters I created could come to life as well.

Callous...Bloom and Gloom...

...even Deity Novagod.

I shuddered. At least the good side of things is that I don't have to bring them to life if I don't want to. It wasn't like anyone was forcing me to draw things, right?

But another thought hit me too. What if I were to bring in official characters that weren't canon to the show? Let's say for example, I had drawn up Princess Sally. Would I actually bring her to life here? And like Jill, would she call me "Master?" Gee I hoped not. That was just WAY too creepy... but because her story was from something entirely different, I wasn't sure I should do it. She could be so confused, because this show was SO MUCH DIFFERENT than the show she had been on.

I think it could actually be hard on her, now that I think about it. So much that she might go mental...

I guess with great power comes great responsibility, so says a great uncle to a young teen superhero. So therefore, I had to come up with some rules.

So Sally was out of the question, and so were the rest of her friends, like Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, etc... So I tried to think about who from the video games I could bring out. Thing was, the show based a good deal of its episodes on the games, (with some alterations) so whichever characters that weren't brought in for out for the taking. There were still a majority of characters out there, like Fang the Sniper or Mighty the Armadillo. Then again, what would happen if I drew up some of the bad charcters of the games into this show?

Nah, it would be the same thing as drawing up my own bad characters; nothing but trouble.

Although an idea popped into my head. What if I drew Metal Sonic?

But it depended whether or not I drew Metal Sonic straight from the games, or straight from Future Generations. They were two totally different personalities.

To be honest, I guess I should really hold off on that. I still don't know what this ring is capable of.

Jill and I came out to a clearing and we encountered quite a quaint looking house with the mixture of different cream's and beige. I wondered who's house it was...it had actually been awhile since I watched the series.

"Well, should we knock?" I asked Jill, who looked back at me puzzledly. Then she noticed the house, and in understanding, turned back to me.

"I suppose," she said. "It wouldn't hurt."

So I walked up and knocked.

"...Sonic, is that you?" I heard a voice call from inside, and not only did the response give it away, but the voice certainly revealed who it was. I didn't know how to respond because I was trying to cover up my snickering. There could be so many ways I could go about this.

So I lowered my voice as best I could, and tried to sound like a guy. "Yes Amy, it's me!"

"Oh goodie!" responded a gleeful cheer.

"JC, what are you doing?" Jill asked nervously.

"This'll be harmless fun, I promise," I said back, just in time for the door to fly open and for something pink to grab me at my waist in a bear hug.

"Oh Sonic! You've just made my day! I was hoping you'd come over!" giggled a certain pink hedgehog in her red hoop-skirted dress and all; Amy. Then there was silence, while I tried not to snicker but failed miserably at it, and she finally took a look at who she was hugging. She stared at a waist, and then followed up to look at my face. "...you're not Sonic."

I finally burst out laughing and fell backwards, rolling back and forth. Yes, I really do this...when you're an Aspie, you exaggerate.

Amy was stunned, and then a maddened look appeared. "What's the big idea?" she screamed at me, and I stopped laughing long enough to see that large hammer pop into view in her hand.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" I said, waving my hands hurriedly. "I didn't mean anything by it! It was just a jo-AAAAAGH!" She came in for the swing...

...and Jill jumped in front, stopping that massive hammer with her hand and looking sternly at the Amy. "She was doing it for harmless fun," she said. "You don't have to overreact like that." And I took a deep breath of relief.

Amy shot Jill a glare, but pulled back her hammer. "Alright, I'm sorry," she said, softening up. "I guess I shouldn't have been so steamed up about it."

I got back up, not wanting to think about what happened if that hammer hit me. "I'm sorry too about the joke," I said. "Sometimes others don't see it as a joke...anyway, I'm JC." And then I gestured to the ewe. "And this is Jill."

"I'm Amy," she replied with a small curtsey. Then she looked at me. "I didn't think humans could come here...Chris was the only human that ever managed to come here."

Jill tilted her head in wondering, "Chris?"

"Chris Thorndike, a friend of ours," Amy said.

Ah...Jill couldn't possibly know of Chris Thorndike. I knew a lot of Sonic X fans usually bashed on Chris. Me, well, I guess he's so-so. I like him better grown up, simply because he's grown out of the annoying habits that made people hate him in the first place. A kid raised without his parents because they're rich and famous. Certainly gives you a lot of independence, but kind of a shame at the same time. Wish I had that much money and time...the things I could do.

And somehow, I got the song from Dry Lagoon stuck in my head. Can't help it though, it's jazzy and sassy. For those who don't know, that's Rouge's first level on SA2: Battle.

Wow, I am such a musical nerd...

For awhile I didn't respond, listenning to the music in my head, and then. "Hey!" snapped out of my rhythim, I looked at an annoyed Amy. "You didn't answer my question."

"Oh sorry, I spaced on that," I said. "Could you repeat the question?"

"I said, how did you get here?" she asked.

My eyes averted from her uneasily. "Well, this got me here..." and I showed her my ring.

"Oh, how pretty," she commented pleasantly, as she took my hand and observed the ring closely. "Did your boyfriend give it to you?" she asked, looking up at me.

"I wish," I sighed. Yes, I have a boyfriend, and no, I wont tell you readers who he is. That is priviledged information. "That ring has powers, like being able to bring to life what I draw...and I sort of drew my way in here..."

Amy raised an eyebrow at me. I wasn't sure if she doubted what I said, or simply didn't understand it and thought that was weird. I can't read expressions, remember? And it's even harder on an anime, Sonic character. There was so much restraint for drawing expressions on them, and you usually had to be creative to bring out the true character in them when you drew them. It's also hard when you're trying to draw them hugging. The arm and body proportions throw me off sometimes, and even the head size makes me wonder how they don't bonk heads when they hug. Sonic X animators aren't particulaly accurate...

"Amy, who's at the door?" I looked to see a very adorable peach-colored rabbit crack the front door open wider, taking me away from my thinking. She looked up at me with small eyes, wondering so much about me. A little blue, infant creature with a red bow tie peered out from behind the rabbits head with the same wonder and curiousity. This could be none other than Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese, her per chao.

Awwwwww! They were even more adorable in person! I gave her a sweet smile. "Is this your house?" I asked her; obviously it couldn't be Amys, because it would be decorated with pink everything.

Cream nodded. Then she gave me a curtsy with her orange summer dress. "My name is Cream, and this is my friend, Cheese," she said, finally gesturing to Cheese as the chao gave a small polite bow.

I bowed my head to be polite as well. "I'm JC," I introduced.

And Jill gave her a curtsy. "My name is Jill," she also greeted. Jill already knew Cream, but in Future Generations, Cream was in her late 60s. Seeing her so young was a bit surprising, but Jill took it fairly well, saying nothing about it. I think she was getting the hang of the fact that this wasn't Future Generations.

"Very pleasant to meet you," Cream said, smiling. "Would you like to come in?"

Jill and I looked at eachother.

* * *

It was a pleasant and relaxing visit with Cream and her mother, Vanilla. Even Amy enjoyed it, and us five girls got lost talking about topics I wouldn't think I would talk about. Among the talks we had about cooking, sewing, (and boys, as Amy added in) I managed to tell them a little about myself, how that man gave me that ring, and how I was drawn into this world by accident. I wasn't too clear on specifics, like my mishap with Eggman...but I did tell them that Sonic set me on a good start, and Amy's hopes rose. "Did you see where he went?" she asked.

I shook my head. "He took off too fast for me to know Amy."

Amy sank in her seat in more disdain.

"Well, if you're looking for this man, you might need some help," Cream said. "It sounds like a hard thing to do with just the two of you alone."

"At first, we thought Sonic was going to help us, but I suppose he has more things to worry about right now," Jill said. "He took off in a bit of a hurry..."

"You know, I think there are some others around that would be willing to lend you a helping hand," Vanilla mentioned, taking a sip of her tea. "I know a team of detectives around here that might be willing to take on the case."

My eyes lit up with a big grin on my face. I knew EXACTLY who she was talking about, and it couldn't have been anyone else other than the Chaotix! I was pretty eager because they are also some of my most favorite characters. I'm a big dope for the comic relief characters after all. But I had to express such enthusiam in a non-conspicuous way. "You know someone that can help?" I exclaimed.

Vanilla nodded. "I can introduce you two to them."

* * *

So there we were, walking down the trail in the forest again following Vanilla who carried a picnic basket full of her delicious pastries. Cream was skipping along happily behind her mother with Cheese in pursuit, and Amy walked near me, sighing every now and then to herself. Likely thinking of Sonic.

But I couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong Amy?"

"Every time I find Sonic and at least want to talk to him, he zooms away," she whined. "And It's not like before, where he'll give me that uncomfortable look and try to get away...I mean he's really going out of his way to avoid me."

"Well, like I said before, he was in a rush to get somewhere and he took off leaving us behind too," Jill added in. "Don't take it personally Amy. I think Sonic's just got his hands full with something."

Amy sighed again. "I guess...but I still feel kind of neglected."

I sighed myself, while looking up at the sky as I walked. I thought about why Amy really tried to pursue Sonic so much. I'm sure many other girls probably have a crush on Sonic too, and just as many were probably just as determined to make Sonic theirs. But how long has this chase really been going on? In the show, it's sort of a toss-up whether or not Sonic actually has feelings toward Amy, but in the video games, the chase was just a running gag. Most of the time, Sonic was trying to get away from Amy.

My dad told me a thousand times that love is a 2-way road; it has to go both ways. If Amy was chasing Sonic, and Sonic never grew to return the affection, then Amy would live a pretty unhappy life. I wish I could say that, but I think it would make Amy feel worse. Plus, it's not really my place anyway, and who knows if Sonic really feels for Amy. Sure, they're friends, and Sonic holds each of his friends dearly.

Then I decided not to think about that. This whole "couples" thing in the Sonic realm was not in my interest anyway and when I got into it, it gave me kind of a headache. I woould rather focus on the action that happens, like Sonic tearing through a horde of robots, and easily whirling around them in a mini tornado, launching them up in the air and taunting them while he stuck out his tongue, or toyed with them by yawning. Then I'd imagine the look on Eggman's face, boiling like the egg he was.

While thinking about these things I tried to keep from snickering too loudly, but I still got a weird look from Amy.

"Well, here we are," Vanilla said, interrupting my thoughts. To my joy, I saw that house with the slanted roofs, and the "Detective Office" sign above their door. Since most of you readers would have seen the show, you basically already know what it looks like, so I won't try to over-explain this, only other than it was nothing more than the other houses we came across. Right now, I was just so excited to meet them.

Vanilla knocked on the door, and to our surprise the door burst open with all three of them spilling out in this order; Espio the Chameleon was somehow tripped by Charmy the Bee, and apparently the little bee lost his footing as well, tumbling over Espio. Then Vector the Crocodile came rushing through the hall to the door, and he somehow slipped on something as well, landing on top of the other boys and crushing them under his weight. Vector was a pretty big guy after all...

And I would've just about died laughing if I didn't have any self control on myself. Tears of amusement were about to squirt out of my eyes at this...

"Vector! You're squishing us!" whined Charmy with a squeak.

"I was just trying to answer the door but you guys were in the way!" Vector protested.

"Instead of arguring, could you two just try and get up?" Espio grunted, with quite a restrained voice. "We have guests after all..."

The first one Vector noticed was, of course, Vanilla. "V-Vanilla!" he blurted, getting to his feet in a heartbeat. "Fancy seeing you here!" he tried to say casually, as Charmy breathed more easily to his relief and Espio merely got up, looking over at me and Jill with curiousity.

"Hello Vector," Vanilla said cheerfully. Then she held up her picnic basket. "I brought you boys some more treats today."

"Oh, thanks!" Vector said, hastily taking the picnic basket nervously. "Yeah, we really appreciate it! You know how much Charmy loves your cookies!"

Charmy found that weird. "But Vector, I thought you were the one that-"

Vector then quickly hushed Charmy desperately. "Just go along with it Charmy," he whispered to the bee. Then he made a laugh to brighten up. "Yep, it's nice of you to drop by," he said. "I-er, we look forward to your visits!"

"Vector," Vanilla began, gesturing to me and Jill. "I have some friends I'd like you to meet."

I couldn't hold it any longer. I let out a hearty laugh and I just laughed and laughed, while everyone stared at me. When I looked up at their weird expressions, it only made me laugh even harder. Jill tried to smile, despite how strange I was being. "...uh, she's tickled to meet you?" she tried to say. That only made me roar, while I fell backwards on the ground and continued my laughing fit.

"I don't get it," Vector said, scratching his noggin. "What's so funny?"

I tried to catch my breath, but the best I could do was breathe in between laughs until I finally calmed down, and wiped my eyes completely clean of any tears that spilled out from my laughing so hard. "I'm sorry," I giggled. "But your entrance was priceless..."

"Oh, that," Vector murmured, looking a bit embarrassed by it.

I took a deep breath to try and calm down some more. "I'm JC," I said. "And this is my friend, Jill."

"Nice to meet you two," Espio said calmly, regarding a nod to the two of us. "I'm Espio, and these are my colleauges Charmy, and Vector." Gesturing of course to the two as he introduced them. It was this point that I realized just how tall Vector was, and we were almost about the same height; me being taller because I was a human. It was scary to imagine... "You'll have to forgive them. They can be a bit eccentric at times..." Espio finally groaned. "...and even then, eccentric is an understatement."

"Aw Espio, you're such a sourpuss," Vector rebuttled. "Why not loosen up a little?"

"Because I'm the only one that manages to take care of the company while you two lolly-gag," Espio grumbled.

"You two need to keep your arguments to yourself," Amy said, setting her hands on her hips. "After all, these two would like to ask for your help with something."

That triggered Vector's full attention. "Come again?"

"We're looking for someone," Jill said. "A mysterious man."

"Ah, so the young ladies need the help of a cunning detective, eh?" Vector chuckled as he stroked his chin with a confident, big-toothed smirk.

"Unfortunately we cannot offer you a cunning detective," Espio threw in. "We can only offer you these two screwballs."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vector uttered, shooting Espio a truly hurt look.

"Yeah, what _is _that supposed to mean?" Charmy asked with an innocently confused look.

I snickered to myself. This just didn't get old. Then I glanced down, and all my amusement was gone, and replaced with uneasiness. I saw Jill's eyes turn blood red. "Uh oh..." I murmured.

"I would like it..." Jill growled, ceasing the commotion of the three of them. "...if you would just set aside your personal despute and let us tell you the information you need to know..."

"...fine," Espio replied, looking at Jill sharply while Charmy, Amy and Cream looked worriedly at Jill. Within a couple blinks, Jill's eyes became green again, and she cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," she murmured.

"Uh...I'm going inside," Charmy said. He didn't even bother to offer us to come in, though that was the typical behaviour of a 6 year old. Charmy just buzzed off inside, but at least left the door open for the rest of us, leaving Espio the honors.

"Would you like to come inside?" he asked.

Jill nodded. "Yes, we would, thank you." She entered in, and then Cream and Amy hesistantly followed, eying Jill with caution after what they had seen of her. Vector politely let Vanilla enter inside first, and then looked at me. I figured he was waiting for me to enter as well, but I got the urge to look back first.

Again...I felt like I was being watched.

Or was it just the nervousness of what I saw in Jill? I don't really know. Sometimes I mix up the two feelings, or sometimes it could very well have been both. But I felt like I wanted to get inside, so I did. Vector, having observed my behaviour, took a look out there for himself. Then with a grunt, he closed the door behind us. When I walked through the hall, I grew worried about what would happen to Jill. What if...Callous pushed her way through her? And then what would Callous try to do here? Could I really live with the fact that I've created something so...demonic?

So evil?

I could literally feel the chilling shudder run down my spine.


	6. Chapter 6

Aside from what just happened, I got used to the idea of being around these guys, and every now and then I kept an eye on Jill, but she didn't show any signs of what happened earlier...

...and then I got bored. It seemed like Jill was handling the situation, talking to Vector, Charmy and Espio and explaining to them the same things that we told Vanilla; this man we were trying to find, the ring he gave me that granted me these powers, that I was brought into this world, etc... Jill had a better way of putting words together than I did. After all, I was an Aspie. While I do pretty well with communicating just as good as anyone else, I was still a little uncomfortable with it.

Besides, I wanted to explore.

Most rooms I passed by were not all that interesting. One looked the most like an office with a desk and filing drawers. Another was a tiny library. I wasn't a big book reader, so I passed by that. Although I stopped by one room which greatly took my interest.

It was a music room. It had a big black piano, a guitar, horns like trumpets, trombones, even a tuba, and some drums as well; timpanis, snare drums, and a small little toy drum which I presumed was Charmy's. There was another string instrument in there I wasn't familiar with. It looked like the instrument that Espio played on Sonic Heroes during their special attack, so I think it may have been a mandolin or something. Then I imaged Vector's screeching voice blowing away Eggman's robots and I laughed to myself. Good times...

There were a few music stands around too, and some chairs. I picked a chair and took up the guitar. It was a nice acoustic with a long neck, and I figured it must have been for Vector. Then I wondered how his big fingers could play on such a skinny neck, but I didn't wonder that for very long before I started playing. Well, first I had to tune it...

I didn't think Vector had that kind of ear...

Then I started playing. First an F chord, and then a C, and F, G, C and I strummed. Then I began the first verse.

_"Wasurete ita me wo tojite,"_

_"tori modose koi no uta,"_

_"aozora ni kakureteiru,"_

_"te o nobashite mou ichido."_

Next Verse.

_"Wasurenaide sugu soba ni,"_

_"boku ga iru itsu no hi mo,"_

_"hoshizora-o nagamete iru,"_

_"hitorikiri no yoake mo."_

This song is called Kaze Ni Naru. All I knew was that it was in Japanese, and it was in the movie The Cat Returns; one of Miyazaki's movies. I had learned to play it on guitar and sing it because I liked the way it sounded, and I liked how well it suited my voice. Plus, it was from a Miyazaki movie. He is only one of the best artists I know of; in fact, he's my inspiration to learn how to observe and to become an animator!

I do have to apologize, for I don't even know what the words mean, or how to sing correctly other than how I heard it sung. I don't even know if they were the correct words. I know there are some people that can be annoyed with the presentation of Japanese culture when the presenter didn't even have a clue about what they were presenting. I don't intend to put myself up as a know-it-all of Japanese franchise. I just like the song...

Right now, I was imaging the other instruments going on in my head as I played the bridge.

_"Taata hitostu no kokoro kanashimi ni kurenaide,"_

_"kimi no tameiki nanute harukaze kaete yaru."_

And now the chorus.

_"Hi no ataru, sakamichi o,"_

_"jitenosha de kakenoboru,"_

_"kimi to nakushita omoide,"_

_"nosete yuku yo,"_

_"La, la, la, la, laaa, kuchizusamu,"_

_"kuchibiru o somete yuku,"_

_"kimi to mistuketa shiawase,"_

_"hana no you ni..."_

Then I paused from singing, but I kept strumming the chords as I hummed the melody. I didn't remember some of the words, but that didn't change how I liked the song. Then I somehow trailed from that song to another song that started on F. My strumming changed rhythm to a 50s blues (i think that's the right way to put it) and from F, to G, to E minor, and A minor, then to F, G and C. With a small tab, I started on G_. "Well I heard, that you're leavin'"_ I sang with enthusiasm. For this was "One More Minute with You," by Weird Al Yankcovic.

_"Gonna leave me, far behind!" _I sang, and in my head the voices went, _so...far...be-hind do-op!_

_"Cause you found a brand new lover!"_

_"You decided, that I'm not your kind!"_ Pause from G...and then F.

_"So I pulled your name out of my Rolladex."_ I didn't even know what that was. _"And I tore all your pictures in two..."_

Heart-wreching E! _"And I burned down the malt shop where we used to go, just because it reminds me of yooooooou!" _Pause.

_"That's right, you ain't gonna see me crying." _

_"You ain't, gonna break my heart in two."_ I think those were the right words. I still was wondering about that.

"_Cause I'd rather get a hundred-thousand papercuts on my face, then spend one more minute with you!"_

Next Verse! _"I guess I may seem kinda bitter. You got me feeling down in the dumps, cause I'm stranded all alone in the Gas Station of Love, and I have to use the self service pumps!"_

_"Oh, so, honey, let me help you with that suitcase,"_ I didn't remember more of that so I hummed, (thinking if "you ain't gonna break my heart in two" really went here, and some other line was sung in its replacement,) so I jumped ahead to more chorus. _"I'd rather clean, all the bathrooms in Grand Central station, with my tongue, then spend one more minute with you!"_

_"Oh yes, I'd rather jump naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks! Or stick my nostrils, together with crazy glue! I'd rather dive into a swimming pool filled with double-edged, razor blades, then spend one more minute with you!"_

_"I'd rather have my blood sucked out by leeches. Shove an ice pick under a toe-nail or two..."_ Then I stopped. I think the one about the swimming pool filled with double-edged razor blades went right after that line. It was a little while since I last looked at the lyrics to this song. I think I even missed some parts of the song as I sang.

Since I couldn't remember much else, I began strumming a steady A minor as a certain Linkin Park song came to mind.

_"Water grey, through the windows, up the stairs."_

_"Chilling rain, like an ocean everywhere."_

_"Don't wanna reach for me, do you? I mean nothing to you."_

_"The Little Things Give You Away, and now there will be no mistaking; the levis are breaking."_

Chorus. Or I think it was. _"All you've ever wanted, was someone to truly look up to you, and six feet underwater, I do..."_

_"Hope decays, generations disappear." _

_"Washed away as a nation simply stares..."_

_"Don't wanna reach for me, do you? I mean nothing to you."_

_"The Little Things Give You Away, and now there will be no mistaking; the levis are breaking."_

_"All you've ever wanted, was someone to truly look up to you, and six feet underwater, I do..."_

I suddenly heard another voice as I repeated the last line, which filled in for the second part, _"All you wanted, ooooooooo... six feet underwater, I do..."_ and when I looked, Jill was standing there...singing with me.

_"All you've ever wanted, was someone to truly look up to you, and six feet under ground now I...now I do..."_ That wasn't all. I started hearing the song itself, and the more it proceeded, I played notes on the guitar that came out like an electric solo. When I looked down and played it, that's when I saw it. The ring. It was glowing, and radiating with a beautiful light, and as my magic fingers played the guitar, I heard the music grow louder. It was just like the way Linkin Park had played it, just the way I had heard it, but it wasn't the voice of men harmonizing. It was mine and Jill's voices...multiplied.

And Jill closed her eyes as she sang, _"Aah..."_

While I continued over and over again, "_All you've ever wanted, was someone to truly look up to you..." _

Finally, I released the guitar but Jill and I continued, while I somehow heard a third voice chanting _"The Little Things Give You Away..."_ creating an amazing a capella finale that gave me goosebumps.

Once the song was done, I looked back down at my ring and saw the glow fade and die. That was amazing...first off, it had the power to bring the drawings I made to life, and then I had some sort of super sonic scream that could make someone's ears bleed.

...now it somehow played the music that I could hear in my mind.

"Whoa..." The door creaked open all the way, and I discovered that the Chaotix, Vanilla, Cream, and Amy were peeking in with amazed looks.

Vector was literally crying, and he blew his large nose noisily in a hankey. "That was so beautiful!" he uttered. "I haven't heard anything like it!"

"I'm sure you haven't," Espio murmured with some sarcasm under his breath, and with Vector acting the way he was, Espio wasn't heard.

"You two can really sing," Amy complimented, impressed.

How Jill knew Linkin Park, I wasn't sure, but we both smiled in gratitude at the compliments they gave us.

"What about that song you sang when you jumped on thumbtacks? That was funny!" Charmy giggled, while clapping his hands. I laughed, because I figured Charmy would've found that song to his liking. But that statement made me wonder something else.

"...how long were you guys standing there?" I asked.

"Since we first starting hearing the music," Cream said. "I really liked that nice one in that weird language. It sounded pretty..." Kaze Ni Naru I assume was the song she was referring to...

"Chao!" Cheese decided to add his input as well.

"That song about doing all those horrible things rather than spending time with that one you love was...strange," Amy said. "But...I have to admit that it actually cheered me up!"

I blinked. "Really? How so?"

She threw her dainty hands together and made a dreamy look on her face. "Sonic would never make me want to do those kind of things! I'd give anything to spend one more minute with him!"

My look changed to a glare at her, which she ignored, and then I smacked my forehead in disbelief at this girl. She was weird...weirder than me. I didn't even know what she was trying to get at, but I decided to leave it at that and try not to think about it. So I got up and set down the guitar. "Anyway, sorry about getting into your stuff," I said, mainly to the Chaotix. "It's a habit."

"Raiding through people's stuff?" Espio questioned.

"If it's musical instruments, yes," I answered back.

Espio chuckled. "..at least you have talent...and it looks like you know how to handle the instruments carefully, so no harm done."

"After such a wonderful performance, there's no way I'm turning down a couple of talented gals like you!" Vector said with gusto, beating his chest. "No matter what it takes, I'll hunt down that strange man for you! Then I'll get the information out of him faster than you can say a random long word!"

"...like (Now I'll have to break the word down because pesky likes to delete abnormally long words) 'Hippopoto-monstro-sesquip-pedalio phobia'?" I asked.

Vector just looked at me funny, while Charmy tilted his head cluelessly. "What does...Hippo...uh, hippopotomon...um...what does that word mean?" he finally asked, unable to get the full word pronounced.

"It's a phobia of long words," I chuckled. "It took me three years to figure out how to say it right..."

"...is that so," Vector murmured.

"But what about payment?" Jill threw in. "We would have to pay you since we're asking for your services..."

"Are you kidding? This one's on me!" Vector said. "If you still insist though, consider that nice little show your payment to us!" and this caused Espio to rub his temples in annoyance. I think this 'generosity' of Vector's was a regular thing, and in correspondence to that statement about the responsibility of the agency's status on his shoulders, I could see why Espio could get impatient with it.

Vanilla smiled sweetly. "How very generous of you Vector. I'm sure it is much appreciated by these two girls."

"Yes, thank you," Jill added.

But I think Vector didn't hear Jill's thanks. He was more interested responding to Vanilla, "Yeah, well...gee, I can't be harsh on nice girls like them, can I?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. I rolled my eyes, thinking "oh brother" with a grin. What a nut he was...

"I understand you have other places to go to, right?" Espio asked Jill, to which she nodded. "Once you leave, we'll begin our investigation and try to contact you if we find out anything about this man you described to us."

"Wait, you guys are leaving?" Vector asked in disdain, and I shared the same disdain.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Jill said. "We have some matters of our own to take care of..." We do? I was all for staying here with the Chaotix, and even following them around to help investigate. Why'd Jill have to ruin my fun? Jill bowed her head to Espio, and he replied the same. "We should come back sometime soon," she said, turning and leaving out the door. "Let's go JC."

Did...she call for me to follow her? While I would've questioned it, I was naturally an obedient person, so with a goodbye to them, I followed Jill out into the hall, out the door, and down into the forest. After gaining some distance away from the house, Jill stopped and spun around to face me with an expectant look.

"...what?" I muttered, still totally clueless.

"JC, now that you have a pad and a pencil, you have the ability to get back home," Jill said. "Why haven't you done it?"

I couldn't stop a sheepish smile, "I...wanted to meet Sonic and his friends?"

Jill shook her head.

"Okay, maybe I should've made sure I could go home first before I got involved with Sonic and his friends," I said guiltily.

"I'm not mad at you, but I think you need to get your priorities straight," Jill remarked. "At least give it a try now…"

"...Alright." I pulled out the pad and scribbled down a swirly...thingy. Then I pressed my hand over it, watching the ring flash. Out of thin air, something like black clouds started spiraling out and a small swirling storm appeared, made like some kind of portal. This is definitely how I remembered it. "Okay, I made one," I said quickly.

"Step through it JC," Jill said sternly.

I sighed in disdain.

* * *

"WHOAAAAOH!"

The next thing I knew, I hit a wall, shaking off picture frames from their perch and hitting the floor. I rubbed my sore head that hit the wall, grumbling. One look around, and I knew that I was back in my bedroom. I looked down at myself. Bulky, 3-dimensional body, wearing the sea-green tank-top and brown pants I should have been wearing. Looks like I finally got back home, and I looked to make sure the ring was still there, in case all that just happened was some wild dream.

Yep, it was there.

I smiled excitedly. This could be a regular thing if I wanted to; bouncing back and forth between this dimension and the Sonic dimension. Heck, why stop there? I could travel to the other dimensions if I wanted to!

"...Jill?" I just now noticed that she wasn't here. It could be that she probably couldn't follow me into this dimension. Like Carl Sagan would explain about the different dimensions; she probably was incapable of coming from a 2-d world into a 3-d world. After all, she WAS originally created in 2-d, on a sheet of paper.

Well, instead of explaining physics, I'm sure you'd like to read the story, wouldn't you?

Heh. I just broke the 4th wall.

Actually, now that I think about it, I wrote this for the intent of someone else reading this, so it doesn't entirely-

Okay, I'm shutting up for now.

* * *

Months passed, school started, and my drawing grew sharper. I had found out that virtually no time passed here, while I was stuck in Sonic's dimension for about two days; talk about convenient! I still had that ring around my finger, looking at it and daydreaming about when I would go back and see how everybody was doing. Then I'd find that I had homework I ended up not doing in class because I didn't "use my time wisely."

Typical...

Halloween finally rolled around, and since it was on a weekend, it would be the perfect time to go. Not to mention a good friend of mine was staying the night over at my house this evening! Boy, I couldn't wait!

"Faith, you want my bubble gum?" I asked, fishing through my trick-or-treat back to sort through the candy I wanted, and the candy I didn't want.

Yes, I'm a Senior in high school and I still trick or treat. Get over it.

"Nah, you can keep that JB," My friend, Faith, answered. Now Faith was a Junior in high school. She was a petite teen with wavy brown hair slightly lighter than mine, and quite slender. Don't let her size fool you though; I've known that Faith can kick serious butt if she wanted too. She came from a family with a long history of military; both sides. That, and she came from Germany as well... not that I'm stereotyping her, but Germans have traditions in strict military; and no, I'm not talking about Hitler for crying out loud.

Believe me, I've done enough history research to know what I'm talking about. Not to mention Faith's told me about it sometimes.

Oh yeah, and she calls me JB most of the time. Short for "Jilly-Bean," which was a nickname my own family gave me.

Huh...why didn't I use THAT one when I introduced myself to Sonic?

Well, that was beside the point. Anyhow, we were doing our candy sorting and we had already gotten out of our costumes for the night. This year, I was Link from Zelda, and Faith was a Hunter from Left 4 Dead 2. This year was awesome for sure; Faith really acts like she's high when she has a sugar rush. Almost had to confiscate those pixie sticks from her just to stop her from getting out of control and turning into the actual Hunter, ha-ha!

Since this was all that we were doing, I had to tell Faith about this ring on my finger and I decided now would be a good time.

"What, are you and Brett engaged?" she teased me when I mention the ring to her, and I blushed.

Brett was the name of my boyfriend, and no, I'm still not telling you readers about him.

"No, actually," I finally answered. "Some random dude gave this to me, but that's not the strange part." I finally looked at her seriously. "Faith, what I'm about to tell you is no joke; it's totally serious, so you have to believe me."

Faith fully understood. I knew that she could tell when I was joking and when I was really serious; and she knew that I wouldn't really lie to her. We were good friends after all.

"This ring," I said, pointing to it, "Brings to life whatever I draw."

Faith stared at me. I wasn't sure if she really did believe me, or if she was just waiting for me to say more, or prove it, or something... now that I think about it, I hadn't tried drawing anything in this dimension other than that swirly portal thing, so I went to my red backpack to get my art binder. I smiled when I saw the Sonic key chain hanging from my backpack next to my lucky 8 ball key chain, taking the orange binder covered in sharpie scribbles out. Once I showed Faith what it could do, I HAD to take her with me to their dimension.

I opened the binder and took out my clipboard of blank white, printer paper. Then with my mechanical pencil, I sketched something simple, but pretty.

A tiny, Celtic fairy girl; long, silvery hair, with frosty white butterfly wings, surrounded by shimmers of white, sparkling magic. I liked how she turned out. If this worked...I'd have to give her a name.

So Faith watched as I pressed my hand to the page and the ring started to illuminate to her disbelief. I think she was trying to believe it at first, and now that I was doing it, she was quite astonished. Once the lines peeled off the paper and gained depth and life, we saw that tiny fairy flutter over with those wings to perch on my shoulder, and I smiled at her. "I think I'll call you Catriona," I said to the fairy.

Ah, Catriona. Greek originally, and associated with the word 'pure.' Pronounced "Katrina," if you will. That's what I saw when I looked at this fairy with frosty, white butterfly wings. Purity.

"I very much like that name," The fairy squeaked cheerfully with a tiny voice; one you'd imagine coming out of the Chipmunks. "Thank you."

"...holy crap Jill," Faith uttered, staring at that fairy wide-eyed. She was truly amazed by what she saw here. The next thing I heard her say was this. "...I wish I had something like that..."

I would've pulled off the ring for her to give it a try, but for months I've tried pulling it off. It wouldn't budge. "That's not the only thing Faith," I started, hoping that I could make it up to her with what I was going to say next. "This ring took me somewhere else totally different, and I wanted to know if you'd like to go with me tonight to that place." Faith was speechless while she examined my welcoming smile.

I hope I wasn't freaking her out too much by doing this...

"Nobody will know we're gone," I told her. "It's totally safe, and it'll blow you away for sure, but it's awesome."

Faith finally smiled. "...well, hell yeah I'd like to go! Heck, if you can do that, then maybe we can bring my Transformer drawings to life!"

I grinned back at her. Even if Faith couldn't do it, who was to say that I couldn't bring other people's drawings to life? "Pack your drawings Faith," I said. "Our next stop is Imaginationland!" Course, I'm not sure if a place like that really existed, but what I really meant was that we were going to go see Sonic and his friends.

She had her own art binder all set, and with Catriona still on my shoulder, I stood up while I drew the swirl on my paper. The ring brought out that storming portal of dark clouds, and Faith stared at it in awe. I quickly returned the clipboard to the binder, into the backpack, and pulled the red backpack on my shoulders. This was going to be great, now that I had my supplies with me. "Okay," I told Faith. "On the count of 3, we jump in."

"1...2..."

* * *

"OOF!" Luckily the backpack I wore broke my fall, but somehow Faith managed to land on her feet. A sly, agile one she was...well, not really sly. That would make her deceptive, and as far as I was concerned, that wasn't Faith.

Or was it?

Catriona waited until I stood up, and she found a pouch to sit in. The pouch was...on the front of my shirt? I looked at myself, and somehow, I was dressed like Link. It was way more authentic than my Goodwill garnered costume. I wasn't in a green tunic, but the red one to match my backpack and it fit snugly enough to show my figure. This was really comfortable to wear, even with the tights and the short skirt. I felt like I could really move around. I had the gauntlets to boot, and I grinned. I was really liking the way this ring was treating me. I didn't have the sword or shield but that was okay. I wasn't much of a swords-woman anyway, and if I really did want them I could draw them up lickety-split. Even then, the ring alone was good enough.

Faith was in her dark blue hoodie and brown pants; the get up of the Hunter. She didn't look like a zombie though. Guess that was a good thing; I didn't want Faith biting my head off. And she had her binder with her too, so that was a good thing as well.

I saw her make an uncomfortable dance with her legs. "Whats wrong?" I asked.

"Wedgie," she uttered.

After a brief chuckle, we both looked around. We were in a forest; and I think I recognized this forest from before. At least it meant that we came to the right place. "Jill, where are we?" Faith asked.

"You'll find out when we meet some friends of mine," I said to her, smiling. I wanted to surprise her, after all. "For now, let's put your binder in my backpack for safe keeping."

"Good idea," she murmured, coming behind me and inserting her binder into my backpack for me. Once she zipped it closed, me, she, and Catriona started walking.

We reached a place, though, that I didn't intend to reach in the first place. The minute I saw those red fortress walls, I stopped Faith. "Uh-oh..."

"What?" Faith asked. She looked over the walls, and I could tell her eyes spied the iconic symbol of a mustached man with a toad like grin on the walls. "...Jill, is that what I think it is?" she asked.

I hushed her, "Shhhh...we don't want to be too loud." Then I nodded. "Yeah Faith...that's Eggman's place."

She gawked at me. "...you mean, you jumped into Sonic's world with that ring?"

I grinned. "That's right. What d'ya think?"

She shared my grin. "That's freakin' awesome, man."

"I don't believe I am familiar with the term 'freakin'," Catriona spoke, looking up at me without a clue.

Hm. When I drew Jill to life, she somehow knew Linkin Park, but Catriona doesn't grasp teenage slang? It could be that Catriona was made up only in moments, where Jill was developed over time and...

That's when I wondered where Jill was. Shouldn't she be here at least? I know it's not like she'd be right where we would warp back, but wouldn't she have sensed me here or something and come running to find me?

"Jill, what're you looking for?" Faith asked me.

"...someone I drew while I was here," I answered.

"You're looking for your little friend, right?"

"Rouge?" I spun around, and me and Faith saw the bat herself jump down from a tree, and saunter up to us. Faith stared wide-eyed at her, and Rouge raised her eyebrow in reply. Catriona just looked curiously at Rouge. "...yeah, I'm looking for my friend," I told Rouge. "Have you seen her?"

"Awhile back, Eggman kidnapped her for interrogation to find out where you disappeared to," Rouge replied.

My jaw dropped. Oh no! Jill! "Is she okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Actually, yeah. Sonic and his rag tag group came and rescued her," Rouge replied. "I don't know where they are, but I would go look for them if you want to find your friend."

"Okay, thanks," and I turned and started running.

"Wait!" At least, until Faith stopped me.

"...what?"

"You're just going to walk away from Rouge the Bat?" Faith exclaimed, getting another weird look from the bat. Then she went over and started pulling on her ears. "Wow! Look at the size of these things!" she laughed.

"Do you mind?" Rouge growled, yanking Faith's hands away. "Those are sensitive, you know!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Faith chuckled.

"C'mon. Let's go Faith, before Eggman finds out we're here," I said. I shot Rouge a look. "...you...won't tell him you saw us, right?" I asked her.

"I may or may not," Rouge said with a shrug. "Depends on what I think is best, hon. I can't make any promises."

I frowned.

Gee, thanks Rouge. Glad I could count on you.

"C'mon Faith," I said, taking her wrist and pulling her off in a sprint.

"Jill, what were you guys talking about?" She asked when we slowed down; or when I slowed down anyway. I didn't have very much endurance really...and I suppose I haven't had much exercise since summer when I came here at first.

"Okay," I huffed, catching my breath. "Long story short, when I came here, I drew my character Jill, and she came to life."

Faith was used to the idea of drawings coming to life by now. "You brought Jill here?"

"Yep," I answered.

"So, when Rouge said Eggman kidnapped your 'friend,' it was her."

"Pretty much."

"And now she's with Sonic."

"Uh-huh."

"Cool! Let's go!" Faith said, being the one to grab my wrist and yank me this time. "So JB, did you get to meet Sonic?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I did," I chuckled, trying to keep up with her.

"Nice!"


	7. Chapter 7

You know, I go and drag us off into the middle of nowhere, and it took until just now for me to realize this: just how were we supposed to find Sonic and his friends? It's not like I could say, "Yoohoo! Sonic!" and he'd come running.

...then again, that could be possible.

Nah, what are the chances that he'd hear us anyway? And it wasn't smart shouting out where Eggman could catch us and find us. I don't want to do anything risky until we find the speedy blue blur. Once we did, we're in safe hands. Boy, how fun it would be to taunt that mad scientist!

Wow, I sound like a total coward.

"I think we're lost, JB," Faith said.

"Yeah...I guess we are," I said sheepishly. Looking around the woods we had been walking through for half an hour straight, I tried not to lose sight of hope, but I wasn't the best navigator.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance?" suggested Catriona, poking out of my pocket.

"Yeah, maybe you could fly up and take a look around," I said. The little fairy fluttered out of my pocket and rose into the sky, allowing her eyes to survey the area.

"Hey JB, you sure Rouge won't tell Eggman she saw us?"

I sighed, turning to my friend. "I honestly don't know Faith. The only reason she helped me escape Eggman before was because I gave her a reward in return. Her priority is to her jewelry, after all..." and what a drag that was. It just made me even more uneasy; we would have to find Sonic soon or we'd be ambushed by Eggman. I highly doubt Rouge would keep quiet if Eggman had any of the Chaos Emeralds.

Catriona fluttered back down to us. "I saw a lot of wooded area, but I managed to see a small cottage to the east."

Both me and Faith stared at her.

"...ooookay," I muttered. "Which way is east?"

"Oh, sorry," Catriona chuckled in embarrassment. "It's that way." And she pointed.

"Let's go!" Faith grabbed my wrist again and ran the direction Catriona pointed, with me in tow. I wasn't running as fast as she wanted me to, so she ran around behind me and pushed me to run faster. "C'MON!"

I laughed. "Aw Faith, don't you want to enjoy the scenery?" I was joking of course; I wanted to hurry as much as she did, but I wasn't the best athlete.

We finally reached the cottage that Catriona was talking about, and when we got the sight of it, my hopes shot way up. "Yes!" It was the Chaotix Detective Office! Boy, how lucky we were!

"That's a good thing, right?" Faith asked.

"You bet that it's a good thing," I replied with a confident chuckle. "Get ready Faith; you're about to meet the Chaotix!"

Faith's eyes grew wide with excitement.

Right as we made it to the door, Vector barged out hurriedly with a wide grin on his face, with Espio and Charmy hanging to his crocodile tail in tow. They completely passed us without even a chance to say hello, so Faith, Catriona and I stood there by their front door while we watched them run down the forest trail.

"...well now, I didn't expect that," Catriona remarked in bewilderment.

Both Faith and I smiled and snickered. We totally understood them.

It was even better when I noticed that Vector was rushing back toward us, and it looked like he finally noticed that they had dashed right by us without even noticing us. The gator (or dile, to be more specific) screeched to a halt, catching his breath. Espio and Charmy plopped to the ground with the harsh force of Vector's tail, taking the moment to try and ease themselves after the joy ride.

Faith and I laughed.

"JC! Good to see ya again!" Vector snatched my hand and shook it earnestly, and with his strength, it shook me up. "Sorry we almost missed ya just now!"

"It's fine," I laughed, painfully taking my hand away.

Charmy swarmed around Faith with his childish curiosity about him, and he was definitely as excited meeting her as she was him. "Oooh! Is this another one of your friends, JC?" he asked.

Faith just grabbed him and squeezed like he was a teddy bear. "My name's Faith! And it's so AWESOME to meet you guys!"

"I like her!" Charmy squealed, despite being nearly squeezed to death by Faith's adoring hold.

Espio grumbled, rubbing his temples again. "Just what we need... someone to influence Charmy's rambunctious behavior."

"Aw Espio, don't be like that," Vector moaned in disdain. "I kinda think-ACK!" Faith grabbed Vector, and squeezed him with the same bear hug. Apparently, Vector was discovering just what kind of strength Faith had.

"It's just SO COOL!" Faith cheered excitedly. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you guys!"

"...I'm going to say that you told her about us?" Espio presumed, somewhat confused on Faith's behavior.

Before Faith could oppose, I nodded quickly. "Yeah, that's it!" and I shot a look at her to keep quiet. She read the message loud and clear; or, at least I THINK she did. You got to keep in mind that this is an Aspie we're talking about here. Still have trouble with social cues and expression. She remained quiet at least, which meant something.

"Do you guys know where I can find Sonic?" I asked the Chaotix. "I'm looking for Jill."

"We don't know where Sonic is," Espio answered directly.

"And besides that, we just got a job offer!" Vector blurted, bringing up a cardboard box and popping open the flaps to show me something. When I saw it, my heart jumped into my throat, because this object immediately told me the following events that were going to happen right here in this universe.

"It's a walkie-talkie!" Charmy explained, and indeed it was; a red and black walkie-talkie with a dial and a jiggling needle every time a sound was made.

Oh dear. Please tell me what I thought wasn't true.

"...what's the job about?" I asked, hoping to confirm my thoughts.

"Oh, the employer is a mysterious stranger, but they heard good things about us and wanted to hire our detective services!" Vector boasted proudly; which made me shudder with delight and deja vu altogether.

It was really happening.

"So you haven't seen Sonic?" I repeated.

"No, unfortunately not," Espio answered. "But if we happen to run into him, we'll let him know that you're looking for him."

I nodded, and pried Faith away from Vector to walk away. "I appreciate that," I called back.

"JB, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Faith wailed in despair as I pulled her away from her favorite characters with her struggling as much as possible. However more athletic she was than I am, I was bigger than her; therefore, common laws of physics justified that I continued to pull her away even with all of her struggling to fight me.

I set her still and gave her a shaky kind of look that made her stop. "Faith, do you realize what's going on?"

Faith just stared at me when I asked her that.

"No, what?"

I smiled. "I think you remember the game Sonic Heroes, right?"

"Yeah," Faith nodded.

"That's all about to happen. Getting a job from a mysterious stranger through walkie-talkie? That's the beginning of the Team Chaotix story on the game!"

"Wow! Really?" Faith blurted excitedly.

"Yeah!"

It was so amazing to know what was going to happen. Sonic X always tried to mimic the games in some way; they've done it for Sonic Adventures 1 and 2, Sonic Battle and probably other games I don't remember or know, but there was one thing I definitely knew.

I knew what was going to happen.

Sonic will be challenged by Eggman to stop him in 3 days from...taking over Mobius, probably. Amy is going after him; with Cream and Big tagging along to look for Chocola Chao and Froggy; Rouge might find where Shadow is deep in the recesses of Eggman's base and then join with Omega and they'll be on their way to stop Eggman from doing what he's trying to do...

...but in reality, it isn't Eggman at all. The real Eggman is the one who hired the Chaotix because he was locked up by a creation of his that went haywire.

Thinking of the very metallix, my eyes widened in more excitement, as well as fear.

If Jill was still in this world, how was she going to react to seeing him here? What if she ruined the continuity of the Sonic X universe by meddling with Metal?

I shrugged. Not like that was any of my concern. Chris Thorndike wasn't part of the video games, and yet he didn't REALLY screw up the timeline of the show.

And I mean that very lightly...it's not like I feel like he didn't screw things up at all. My exception would be when Shadow first came into the show and Chris was the one to convince Shadow to save the world. In the game, it was Amy that did that. To be honest, both of them aren't in my best favor, but I'd choose Amy over Chris.

Besides, Jill wouldn't even mess anything up as badly as that crybaby of a rich boy would.

Aside from that, Metal Sonic was going to be revealed here in this world. Neo Metal Sonic.

Oh Jill...I just hope that you haven't changed to your most recent self. I just finished Future Generations with a sad ending; her losing her voice AND leaving Metal, who was now a dear friend to her. My heart grew heavy thinking about how she would feel if she saw Metal all mechanical and evil again. "Faith, we gotta find Jill," I said in a more urgent tone.

* * *

So we wandered some more. Great, isn't it? It was hours and hours before I finally figured my way around these woods, and picked a path that would hopefully take us to a useful place. It was bad enough it took us such a long time, but now it was starting to get dark.

At least the light illuminating off of Catriona worked like quite the lantern.

Looking about curiously, Faith currently had the mindset of her little friend Craz. Everything seemed to catch her interest, including trying to poke the stars high above them childishly, not caring what went on anywhere else at the moment.

Ah yes, I must explain. We have established in our home world that Faith has multiple personalities, which she often calls her "splits."

"Ooh, dotty dotty tee dot." Faith cooed, now jabbing towards the stars, from twinkle to twinkle. Not watching where she's going, her right foot caught on a tree root that was barely sticking out of the ground and the odd girl let out a yelp while plummeting to the ground, face first.

"EEP!" she screamed. "IT CAME AT ME LIKE A NINJA!"

As you can see, Craz is a bit on the...ehm, what's the word?

Hyperactive side.

I laughed while I helped her up off the ground. With little control over Craz, one letter off from crazy (hence the name, I presume) Faith merely looked at helper with large, sparkling eyes. "Do you know how cool it'd be to pants a ninja? You'd have that title for life! We should get the purple gu some pants, so I can pants him."

It was like she didn't even remember falling, pondering the arts of a hand stand. "Like a monkey..."

Her eyes now kept on my bushy hair, that glistened to her attention. Keeping quiet for now, I guess so she wouldn't annoy me (not that I WOULD get annoyed. It's so entertaining to watch Faith), she continued with a hop in her step. "Let's keep going, this is boring." Yes, Craz is all over the place. As for playing with my hair, well, a lot of people tend to do that. It's frizzy and long and curly, who wouldn't? Heck, if I tried, I could make my hair into a fro! Funka-delic, man!

Okay, I'm not doing THAT again.

"I'm growing weary," Catriona added, fluttering to my shoulder.

"Well, hopefully we'll find somewhere we can stop...soon," I muttered.

Faith couldn't agree more. "Yeah, I could use some sugah!" She flailing her arms around crazily in the air before letting them drop back down. For Craz, sugar was easy to find, whether it was berries or candy. Unfortunately, Faith didn't always use the best judgment under the influence of Craz.

Luckily though, we came to a clearing and found a cottage just sitting there. It was another one I recognized too, with a smiling relief. "That should be Cream and Vanilla's house, Faith," I said.

"Mm, Scream and Vanilla." Of course Faith knew what I meant, but all Craz could think of was being explosive and dangerous with a sugar high. Then she realizing her error in speech and she frowned with a bit of an annoyed expression. "I meant Cream, damn Casey."

Casey is another split, as you could probably guess. She tends to be the more violent side of the splits too; and yet, I haven't seen her show any aggression toward me.

Well, not that I know of.

So we walked right up to the front door and knocked. Faith gained a slightly irritated expression, and a bit of a mean growl too. Then, a more stoic look came, and folded her arms."This is my happy face, right?"

There are times when Faith looks really mad, and when I ask about it, she assures me that it's just her splits. I mostly hear about Cist, who's the scientist in her...a kind of impatient one hearing how Faith describes her. She tells me that Cist and Casey tend to fight a lot. My only guess was that the two were probably fighting and Faith was trying to keep them calm.

Ain't it confusing for an Aspie like me?

The door finally opened after the long wait and Cream smiled up at me. "It's a nice surprise to see you again, Ms. JC," she said.

I smiled down at her. "Hi Cream."

Faith gave a cock-eyed look at little Cream, wondering just how many people knew me. Then she crounched to Cream's height. "Aaaw.." Her surly disposition certainly disappeared in place of a smile.

Cream smiled back at Faith and gave her a curtsy. "Hello, my name is Cream. What's yours?"

Faith changed again to a more of a rough, but open vibe, jabbing a thumb at herself with a jagged smirk. "I'm Faith, nice ta meet ya Cream." She stood back a bit, trying not to look inside the house since I suppose that may be rude "Is your mom around?"

"Yes she is," Cream answered. "Would you like to come in?"

"We would," I answered. "Thank you."

Cream nodded and turned inside, allowing us to follow. I closed the door behind us; a habit I have. Faith followed closely to me, now looking slightly nervous and fidgeting with her hands. I suppose she didn't like to be in a strange place, and she felt the most comfortable sticking with me.

"Mother, we have guests!" Cream called into the other room.

So, not only did Vanilla walk through the doorway into the living room, but others accompanied and I saw that it was Amy, and Big too. Somehow, the large cat worked his way through this house without breaking stuff.

"Well hi JC!" Amy said with a greeting smile. "Who's your friend?"

Faith stared in awe at how tall and...well, how BIG Big was. Looking back down instantly when she heard Amy's question, she hid behind me in discomfort, unable to get a name to escape her vocals.

"...are you okay?" Amy asked her.

"...uh, she's fine," I answered instead. "She's just...shy around strangers."

"Heh." Faith rubbed the back of her head nervously, feeling like a moron at the moment. "Um, sorry, I'm Faith."

Amy smiled in a more friendly manner, trying not to make Faith more uneasy than she already was. "My name is Amy," she introduced with a curtsy of her red hoopskirt.

"My name is Big!" added in the giant purple cat in the back. "You two look nice!"

"Make that three," I said with a chuckle, looking over at Catriona.

"Well, how nice of you to come visit," Vanilla said with a smile of her own. "My name is Vanilla."

Faith made sure not to make some odd expression when Amy curtsied as well, and her eyes bounced between all of them until she smiled. There didn't seem to be much threat here according to her, not yet.

If Faith had a tail, it'd be wagging, for she looked like quite the puppy. Then it was ruined with a scowl and a muttering. "Shut up Casey, you have no friends." Then she snickered to herself at the mean and random comment.

This no doubt got a few stares at her for that.

"Well," I said, breaking the attention away. "Would you guys happen to know if you've seen Jill around?"

Vanilla, Cream, and Amy looked at each other. "...yes, in fact, she's sleeping in one of the rooms," Vanilla said.

I was sure relieved to hear that; not only was I afraid of wandering everywhere when so much was going to happen, but it was a miracle to know that Jill was alright. That saved time and stress.

Geez, did I really worry that much over her? Jill and I really ARE alike!

"Can I see her?" I asked eagerly.

"...well, I suppose, but-" I swooped past Vanilla before she could finish, and Faith tagged along behind me excitedly.

"Oh boy, this is so awesome!" Faith exclaimed. "Do you think we can bring Ani into this world?"

"Maybe," I replied, checking each door for Jill. "But first we gotta make sure that Jill's—!" I opened the right door, but I stopped at what I saw.

"…Oh no…"

Jill was lying in the bed fast asleep like Vanilla said, but there were two things; she had changed since I saw her last in this world.

That, and she wasn't alone in that bed.

"…Dude, is that Joy?" Faith whispered quietly.

I didn't answer. Yes, there was definitely a little ewe with Jill, sucking on her thumb cutely and nuzzled toward her mother. Jill was taller, older…she looks the way she does in the story 5 years later; the sequel to Future Generations. Hair cut shorter, more figure…the works.

But how in the world did this happen? Jill was…Jill was a girl the last time I saw her! I don't get it! Not only that, but Joy's with her! I had nothing to do with that!

"JB, you okay?" Faith asked me, since I hadn't answered her question.

"Jill was supposed to be younger," I said to her in disbelief. "I didn't do anything…"

"Yeah, she was younger when you left," Amy came up behind us. "But after you left, strange things happened to her. Every now and then, she had this weird…transformation."

"…transformation?" I questioned.

"Well, she wandered around a lot, and sometimes she'd disappear for days," Amy replied. "Every time we saw her again, she looked…older. At some point, she was gone for good, and just recently Sonic brought her here…not only as that age, but somehow she had a little girl with her too, who claimed to be her daughter…"

I looked back at Jill and Joy and started thinking. I finished Future Generations when I got back from my last trip to this world. Since then, I've started a sequel: 5 Years Later. Jill's 5 years older, obviously, and she's a mom. Looking at her now, the facts were fitting together.

Did my progress in the story have an effect on Jill?

But how would that work, really? I had no contact with Jill whatsoever… That and I never drew Joy to life in this world, yet here she is fast asleep with her mom.

Could the ring really do that to Jill, even across dimensions?

"…we were told that Eggman kidnapped her," I said.

"Yeah, Sonic told us that too," Amy said. "I don't know why…but nowadays, no one's really seen Eggman either." Then she left down the hall murmuring to herself, "I wonder why…"

Oh, I knew why that was, but I couldn't say anything to disrupt the flow of events. All I could do was offer a tired sigh.

"Hey Amy," I called down the hall after her, "could you ask Vanilla if we can stay the night over?"


	8. Chapter 8

Morning came, and I did not want to get up. I hate the nights were you just CAN'T open your eyes, but there's no fooling yourself. You're awake, and aware of the things around you. Well, vaguely aware anyway.

I wasn't like this for long, though. Someone started poking me.

"...Faith," I grumbled.

"What?" came a laugh. Other giggling ensued from that.

Was waking me up like a main attraction? People, get a life!

I opened my eyes, but the only other ones giggling were Jill and Joy. I sat up pretty quickly when I saw 'em. Jill was smiling at me, and Joy looked at me with a curious smile. I'm not sure what was going on in their heads, but...hopefully they were happy to see me. We've got an Aspie here, remember?

Joy didn't give me a moment to say anything, because she crawled onto the bed and hugged me. "Ji'an!" She giggled.

I looked questionably at her, and then up at Jill. "...she...knows me?" I asked with a point to her.

Jill nodded.

I wonder if she has her voice or not. I got pretty far in 5 Years Later... and maybe I should push it. The more I looked at Jill, the more I realized the things I've done.

...I killed Brick, and I made her life a living hell for her, all for the sake of a story.

Do you know how bad I felt just then? I felt ashamed to even look at Jill. Sure, Deity Novagod did things to her, but I created him too, and not only that, but I didn't stop him. I let things happen to her, and all for the sake of making the story something interesting to read...

"JC?"

I shot a look back at Jill, because she spoke just then, with a sympathetic smile. If she spoke, then it's true; she's as far along the story as I am.

"Is something wrong JB?" Faith asked with a tilted head.

"...I'm not sure," I said. "I mean..." I looked back up at Jill again, trying to figure out what to say. "...Jill, you changed, so...you know about the things that happened to you...right?"

Jill nodded. "...but JC, I'm not mad."

I perked up. "...you're not?"

Jill smiled. "...even if bad things happened to me, you always made sure that good things happened too. You gave me Joy...and you brought Metal back to us, right?"

"That's right...I guess." I looked down at the toddler who was still hugging me, and I hugged her back. I'll admit that I'm an affectionate person; man, do I love hugs. Joy was just the size of my little 8 year old brother, only with a head the size of an inflated balloon.

Uh, that's not to be taken the wrong way. EVERYONE'S head in this world is inflated, believe me. Proportions, proportions...

I got up from bed, carrying Joy with me.

"What is your plan of action?" Catriona got up from her perch on the end table and sat down on my shoulder. That little fairy was still here?

"Not sure," I replied. After all, I had a few choices. Me and Faith could go back to our Halloween sleepover, or we could get involved with Sonic X's rendition of Sonic Heroes. I think we all know which one I'd prefer, really, but was it smart to get into this?

What if anything here happened for real, and we died in here? That's a pretty gruesome thought to have on your mind, and there's no safe way to test that theory either. I certainly didn't want to jump off a cliff unless there was an extra life for me waiting on the other end of the sharp, jagged rocks. This wasn't any video game I've ever played, thats for sure.

...but there were lots of heroes to save us. Somehow, that logic was reason enough. "Let's go explore and see how things turn out," I said. "We can follow Amy's group."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I turned to see Vanilla poke her head in. "They already left."

"...WHAT?" I rushed past her, along with Faith and Jill; the last whom regarded a nod of thanks to the rabbit.

"They left only a few seconds ago!" Vanilla called to us. "You should be able to catch up to them if you hurry!"

* * *

Well, I'm not a fan of skipping a lot of information, but to be perfectly honest, you guys should know what really happened. Sonic Heroes in Sonic X style wasn't very different. Me, Faith, Jill, Joy and Catriona found Amy, Cream and Big, and they were indeed looking for Froggy and Chocola Chao (as well as Sonic). So we tagged along with them, going through coasts and nuclear plants and even cities. I never thought I'd find that kind of stuff in Sonic X, since they don't show very much of Sonic's world in the TV show.

Then we encountered Sonic and his group.

"Okay Sonic, there's nowhere to run!" Amy exclaimed, folding her arms. "You're marrying me, and that's that!"

"Amy, I don't have time for this!" Sonic protested as the two chased each other around.

Well, me and Faith would've stopped it if we weren't laughing so hard. Jill just looked at us in bewilderment.

The real issue was sorted out; Sonic, Tails and Knuckles hadn't seen Chocola Chao or Froggy, so they took off on their way. And I say that because we decided to follow Sonic's group instead. I drew up a little flying pod thing that me and Faith could use to keep up with Sonic, just so we wouldn't slow him down by following him. To be honest, Faith drew it and when I brought it to life, she drove it. She's better at drawing vehicles than I am.

So we followed them for awhile, and guess what? We ran into Rouge, Shadow, and Omega! How convenient, right?

In Sonic Heroes, Sonic was eager to see Shadow again and to kick some butt; but in Sonic X, the last time he saw Shadow was the whole Metarex incident, and he used Chaos Control to freeze time on that gravitational pull coming off of Cosmo's home planet. Shadow was supposed to be frozen along with it. Needless to say, the three heroes were pretty shocked to see him.

I, myself, was pretty curious how 4kids was going to fill this plothole.

Unfortunately, Shadow didn't remember anything, which should have been expected because he didn't remember anything in the game (and WON'T remember anything until the Shadow the Hedgehog game). Not only that, but 4kids doesn't really clean up the plot that well; they make sense, but the plot is so cliché'. But a rather exciting brawl ensued, and me and Faith cheered on whoever we felt like cheering on, and totally overlooked the fact that they didn't bother describing what happened to Shadow.

Jill gave us weird looks, as usual.

That's when I noticed a large ship flying in the cloud cover in the distance. Sonic, Shadow, and their groups were so caught up fighting that they didn't notice.

When I looked back at that ship, I grew pretty curious. It was a big battle ship; no doubt Eggman's.

Or Metal's in this case.

So thinking that, it made me think twice about flying over there. It looked like a giant blue sawfish; actually, the more I looked, the more I realized it wasn't just one ship alone. It was a fleet; all hidden inside clouds.

"Hey Jill," I said, turning to her. "Do you wanna stay here with these guys?"

"...why do you ask, JC?" She inquired.

"We need to check something out, and with you and Joy...it might be dangerous," I murmured. Faith gave me a weird look too, probably wondering what I was talking about.

Jill looked thoughtful...I think. I wasn't sure if she was going to buy it or not.

Eventually, Me and Faith were on our way to that ship. Not that I didn't want Jill and Joy to come with us, but who knows what repercussions would come if the two saw Metal all...metal, and evil again. Could scare the living daylights out of Joy, that's for sure. I didn't want to traumatize the two any further than I already did in the story.

How funny huh? The two of us are heading for a gigantic fleet of ships and my only concern was their safety.

"So why are we flying towards the large, intimidating ship, JB?" she asked.

"I'm wondering what's on there, and if Metal Sonic's on that ship," I replied.

"Works for me!" Faith replied with enthusiasm, and I smirked. Good ol' Faith.

Then the enemies started flying for us. "...uh, Faith, this thing has weapons, right?" I asked.

"Yep!" She said with her toothy grin; believe it or not, Faith's canine actually sticks out when she grins. She's always so pleased with it, and I thought it was kinda neat. Just as I had hoped, she stuck up flaps on the steering with her thumbs to reveal hidden buttons, and they activated a laser turret.

Thank goodness Faith had good aim. I was always teased that I needed a shotgun in zombie games because my aiming was bad.

Anyhow, we flew through the swarm with quite a struggle, but eventually we made it inside the ship's hull, landing the aircraft and disembarking. MAN, it was indescribable being in a giant ship like this! The place was huge, and so real!

Well, when I say 'indescribable' I mean words that really make you think of the place-

You know what? Never mind.

I'm sure you're more interested in knowing what happened next, rather than what the landing bay looked like, especially when me and Faith weren't even going to stay in it very long. The two of us ran through a door and into some hallways, hoping to see what we could find on this particular ship.

When we came to one of those doors that were supposed to open automatically, it didn't. It was also the ONLY door we've ever come across, and if it wasn't opening, then we wouldn't get anywhere. We'd have to break it down.

"Alright Faith," I said. "I think you'll need to plug your ears."

Faith looked at me questionably, but she did as she was told.

And I opened my mouth.

Well, the door was knocked off its place, that's for sure…

"WHAGH?" Me and Faith heard a startled yelp, and when we walked inside, we looked around. We entered a control room of sorts; nothing too different from what you'd ordinarily find on Eggman's ships. Speaking of the devil, he was sitting there on the ground, staring at us in surprise as well as Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun.

"_Hey, it's that girl!"_ Bokkun pointed out.

"AWWW! YOU'RE SO CUTE!" Faith said with a wail, grabbing Bokkun in a choke-hold of a hug.

"_HEY! I'm not supposed to be cute!" _Bokkun protested, whining. _"…but thank you…now let me go!"_

"What're YOU doing here?" Eggman asked with a growl, standing up.

"Exploring," I answered bluntly. "…and just what are you doing here, Doctor? Trapped in your _own_ fortress?" Eggman gave me a glower for rubbing it in his face. "…I bet I can guess what happened," I told him. "I bet you a Chaos Emerald or two that I can tell you what happened."

"That's a hefty bet to make, girl," Eggman said. "I had no idea you were into gambling."

"But I knew that you were," I remarked.

"…who is this egg-shaped man?" Catriona asked, peeking out from my pocket.

Eggman was going to make some sort of big introduction, but in a split second, he stopped. Then a look of slight terror appeared on his face. I had no idea what was going on, but I noticed that he was looking behind me at the door we just came in.

So I turned and looked…then my mouth hung open in shock.

For a split second…I saw him…I saw that sleek blue shine off of his metallix exoskeleton…and those piercingly glowing red eyes… but a steel liquid-like substance whisked up the doors and sealed them to each other before I could make any reaction, leaving us trapped in here.

"…h-hey!" I uttered, running to the doors. I threw my fist on them frantically. "HEY! LET US OUT!"

"There's no point girl; you're stuck in here with me!" Eggman said.

"Was that Metal Sonic?"

"FAITH!" I screamed, shooting a scolding look at her. She whimpered and stood down, looking at me fearfully.

Eggman gave her the same kind of look. "…just how were _you_ aware of Metal Sonic's being?"

"_Yeah! Metal Sonic was supposed to be a top secret project, missy!"_ added an equally as scolding Decoe.

"…guess you're project isn't so top secret now, Doctor," I said with a sarcastic sneer, and Eggman just gave another glare; "Especially when he's thrown you into this cell here, and starting posing as you."

Both Bocoe and Decoe gave me startled looks.

"…_how were you able to figure that out?"_ Bocoe uttered.

I folded my arms.

"Oh…I have my ways…"

…but the bad thing was that now we were stuck with Eggman and his goonies…and no one but Sonic and his friends could come and save us—oh wait, I almost forgot; The Chaotix eventually barge in here to discover where Eggman's been hiding, and that Vector knew all along it was Eggman who hired them.

…okay, so thankfully we weren't entirely trapped. We just had to wait for the Chaotix…

…I hope it wouldn't take long…


End file.
